Pulsar
PSR B1610-50 (J1614-5048)
Young pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.232 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 | 231.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.9×10⁻¹³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 7,420 years |
| Magnetic field | 1.1×10¹³ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.6×10³⁶ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 582.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,148 pc (16.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, FermiAssoc, htru_pks, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 14m 11.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | −50° 48′ 04″ |
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 17 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 298 million years.