Pulsar
PSR B1323-63 (J1326-6408)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.793 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 | 792.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 3.1×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 4.1 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.6×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.4×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 502.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 11,990 pc (39.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 26m 32.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −64° 08′ 44″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 26° N. South of latitude 26° 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 39 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 694 million years.