Pulsar
PSR B1604-00 (J1607-0032)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.422 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 | Serpens |
| Period | 421.8 ms |
| Period derivative | 3.1×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 22 million years |
| Magnetic field | 3.6×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.6×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 10.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,050 pc (3.4 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1970 · mol1, gb3, gb4, lotaas, misc, mol2, pks70 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 07m 12.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −0° 32′ 42″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 89° N. 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 around 1400 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 61 million years.