Pulsar
PSR B1309-55 (J1312-5516)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.849 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 | 849.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.7×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.4 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.2×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.7×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 134.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,187 pc (13.7 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, htru_pks, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 12m 53.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −55° 16′ 47″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 35° N. South of latitude 35° 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 14 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 242 million years.