Pulsar
PSR B1657-45 (J1701-4533)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.323 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 | 322.9 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.2×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 9.9 million years |
| Magnetic field | 4.1×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.1×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 526.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 19,600 pc (63.9 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 01m 29.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −45° 33′ 49″ |
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 June, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 64 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 1.1 billion years.