Pulsar
PSR B1715-40 (J1719-4006)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.189 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 | 189.1 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.7×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.8 million years |
| Magnetic field | 5.7×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.7×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 386.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 9,790 pc (31.9 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 19m 01.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −40° 06′ 59″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 50° N. South of latitude 50° 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 32 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 566 million years.