Pulsar
PSR B1607-52 (J1611-5209)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.182 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 | 182.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.2×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 559 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 9.8×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.4×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 127.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,948 pc (9.6 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 11m 03.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −52° 09′ 22″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 38° N. South of latitude 38° 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 9,615 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 171 million years.