Pulsar
PSR B1558-50 (J1602-5100)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.864 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 | 864.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 6.9×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 197 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 7.8×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.2×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 170.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 8,000 pc (26.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1973 · misc, htru_pks, mol2, pks1, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 02m 18.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −51° 00′ 06″ |
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 26 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 463 million years.