Pulsar
PSR B1309-53 (J1312-5402)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.728 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 | Centaurus |
| Period | 728.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.5×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 79 million years |
| Magnetic field | 3.3×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.5×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 133.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,905 pc (16.0 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, ghrss, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 12m 04.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −54° 02′ 42″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 36° N. South of latitude 36° 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 16 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 284 million years.