Pulsar
PSR B1409-62 (J1413-6307)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.395 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 | 395.0 ms |
| Period derivative | 7.5×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 837 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.7×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.8×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 121.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,022 pc (9.9 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 14h 13m 31.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | −63° 07′ 35″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 27° N. South of latitude 27° 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 9,857 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 175 million years.