Pulsar
PSR B1635-45 (J1639-4604)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.529 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 | 529.1 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.8×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.5 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.8×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.5×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 257.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,780 pc (12.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 39m 21.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −46° 04′ 34″ |
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 12 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 219 million years.