Pulsar
PSR B1323-58 (J1326-5859)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.478 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 | 478.0 ms |
| Period derivative | 3.2×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.3 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 287.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,000 pc (9.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, htru_pks, misc, pks1, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 26m 58.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −58° 59′ 29″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 31° N. South of latitude 31° 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 9,785 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 174 million years.