Pulsar
PSR B1451-68 (J1456-6843)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.263 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 | 263.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 9.9×10⁻¹⁷ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 42 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.6×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.1×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 8.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 430 pc (1.4 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1968 · mol1, htru_pks, misc, mol2, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 14h 55m 59.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | −68° 43′ 39″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 21° N. South of latitude 21° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in May, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around the year 624. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 25 million years.