Pulsar
PSR B1611-55 (J1615-5537)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.792 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 | 791.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.0×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 6.3 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.6×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 124.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,192 pc (10.4 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 15m 40.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −55° 37′ 01″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 34° N. South of latitude 34° 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 10 thousand 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 185 million years.