Pulsar
PSR B1634-45 (J1637-4553)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.119 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 | Ara |
| Period | 118.8 ms |
| Period derivative | 3.2×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 590 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 6.2×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.5×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 193.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,446 pc (11.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 37m 58.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −45° 53′ 27″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 44° N. South of latitude 44° 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 11 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 199 million years.