Pulsar
PSR B1557-50 (J1600-5044)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.193 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 | 192.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.1×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 603 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 10.0×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.8×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 262.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 6,900 pc (22.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1973 · misc, htru_pks, mol1, pks1, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 00m 53.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −50° 44′ 21″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 39° N. South of latitude 39° 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 23 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 399 million years.