Pulsar
PSR B1518-58 (J1522-5829)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.395 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 | 395.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.1×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.1 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.1×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.3×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 199.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,880 pc (12.7 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 22m 42.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −58° 29′ 03″ |
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 13 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 224 million years.