Pulsar
PSR B1706-44 (J1709-4429)
Young pulsar · in the remnant G343.1-2.3(?)
A neutron star spinning once every 0.103 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 | 102.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 9.3×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 18 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 3.1×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.4×10³⁶ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 75.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,600 pc (8.5 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G343.1-2.3(?) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, FermiBlind, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 09m 42.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −44° 29′ 08″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 46° N. South of latitude 46° 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 8,480 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 150 million years.