Pulsar
PSR B1240-64 (J1243-6423)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.388 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Crux |
| Period | 388.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.5×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.4 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.0×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 297.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,000 pc (6.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1969 · mol1, htru_pks, misc, mol2, pks1, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 12h 43m 17.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −64° 23′ 24″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 26° N. South of latitude 26° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in March, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 6,523 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 116 million years.