Pulsar
PSR B1612-29 (J1615-2940)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 2.48 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 | Scorpius |
| Period | 2.478 s |
| Period derivative | 1.6×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 25 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.0×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.1×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 44.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,717 pc (5.6 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 15m 52.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −29° 40′ 16″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 60° N. South of latitude 60° 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 5,600 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 99 million years.