Pulsar
PSR B1503-51 (J1506-5158)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.841 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 | Lupus |
| Period | 840.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 6.4×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.1 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.2×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 61.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,384 pc (4.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 06m 39.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −51° 58′ 10″ |
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 May, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 4,514 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 80 million years.