Pulsar
PSR B1535-56 (J1539-5626)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.243 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 | Norma |
| Period | 243.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.8×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 795 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.1×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.3×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 176.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,537 pc (11.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 39m 14.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −56° 26′ 26″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 34° N. South of latitude 34° 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 12 thousand 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 205 million years.