Pulsar
PSR B1508-57 (J1512-5759)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.129 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 | 128.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 6.9×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 298 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 9.5×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.3×10³⁵ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 627.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 6,835 pc (22.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 12m 43.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −57° 59′ 59″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 32° N. South of latitude 32° 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 22 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 395 million years.