Pulsar
PSR B1254-10 (J1257-1027)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.617 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 | Virgo |
| Period | 617.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 3.6×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 27 million years |
| Magnetic field | 4.8×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.1×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 29.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 25,000 pc (81.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb2, misc, pks70 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 12h 57m 04.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −10° 27′ 05″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 80° N. South of latitude 80° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in April, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 82 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 1.4 billion years.