Pulsar
PSR B1714-34 (J1717-3425)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.656 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 | 656.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 9.8×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.1 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.6×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.4×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 583.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 25,000 pc (81.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 17m 20.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −34° 24′ 59″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 56° N. South of latitude 56° 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 82 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 1.4 billion years.