Pulsar
PSR B1620-09 (J1623-0908)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.28 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 | Ophiuchus |
| Period | 1.276 s |
| Period derivative | 2.6×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 7.8 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.8×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.9×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 68.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,670 pc (5.4 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, misc, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 23m 17.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −9° 08′ 49″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 81° 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 5,447 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 97 million years.