Pulsar
PSR B1426-66 (J1430-6623)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.785 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 | Circinus |
| Period | 785.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.8×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 4.5 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.5×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.3×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 65.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,327 pc (4.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1968 · mol1, htru_pks, misc, mol2, pks70, pksmb, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 14h 30m 40.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −66° 23′ 06″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 24° N. South of latitude 24° 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 4,328 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 77 million years.