Pulsar
PSR B1303-66 (J1306-6617)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.473 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 | Musca |
| Period | 473.0 ms |
| Period derivative | 6.0×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.3 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.7×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.2×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 438.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 15,890 pc (51.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 06m 38.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −66° 17′ 21″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 24° N. South of latitude 24° 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 52 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 919 million years.