Pulsar
PSR B1509-58 (J1513-5908)
Young pulsar · in the remnant G320.4-1.2
A neutron star spinning once every 0.152 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 | 151.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.5×10⁻¹² s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1,570 years |
| Magnetic field | 1.5×10¹³ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.7×10³⁷ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 255.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,400 pc (14.4 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G320.4-1.2 |
| Discovery | 1982 · misc, htru_pks, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 13m 55.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −59° 08′ 10″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 31° N. South of latitude 31° 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 14 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 255 million years.