Pulsar
PSR B1649-23 (J1652-2404)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.70 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 | 1.704 s |
| Period derivative | 3.2×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 8.6 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.4×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.5×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 68.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,368 pc (11.0 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, gbncc, htru_pks, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 52m 58.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −24° 03′ 51″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 66° N. South of latitude 66° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in June, 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 195 million years.