Pulsar
PSR B1700-32 (J1703-3241)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.21 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 | 1.212 s |
| Period derivative | 6.6×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 29 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.1×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.5×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 110.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,160 pc (10.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1973 · jb1, htru_pks, misc, mol2, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 03m 22.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −32° 41′ 48″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 57° N. South of latitude 57° 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 10 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 183 million years.