Pulsar
PSR B1352-51 (J1355-5153)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.644 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 | 644.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.8×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.6 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.4×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.2×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 112.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,984 pc (16.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, ghrss, htru_pks, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 55m 58.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −51° 53′ 54″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 38° N. South of latitude 38° 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 288 million years.