Pulsar
PSR B1338-62 (J1341-6220)
Young pulsar · in the remnant G308.8-0.1
A neutron star spinning once every 0.193 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 | 193.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.5×10⁻¹³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 12 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 7.1×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.4×10³⁶ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 719.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 12,600 pc (41.1 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G308.8-0.1 |
| Discovery | 1985 · misc, FermiBlind, htru_pks, pks1, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 41m 42.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −62° 20′ 21″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 28° N. South of latitude 28° 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 41 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 729 million years.