Pulsar
PSR B1701-75 (J1708-7539)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.19 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 | Apus |
| Period | 1.191 s |
| Period derivative | 1.9×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 10 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.5×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.4×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 37.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,322 pc (4.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 08m 02.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −75° 39′ 23″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 14° N. South of latitude 14° S it never sets.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 4,312 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 76 million years.