Pulsar
PSR B1659-60 (J1704-6016)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.306 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 | 306.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 9.1×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.3 million years |
| Magnetic field | 5.3×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 54.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,589 pc (5.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, pks70 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 04m 14.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −60° 16′ 54″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 30° N. South of latitude 30° 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 5,183 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 92 million years.