Pulsar
PSR B1556-44 (J1559-4438)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.257 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 | 257.1 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.0×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 4.0 million years |
| Magnetic field | 5.2×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.4×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 56.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,300 pc (7.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1972 · mol1, ghrss, htru_pks, misc, mol2, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 59m 41.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −44° 38′ 46″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 45° N. South of latitude 45° 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 7,502 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 133 million years.