Pulsar
PSR B1718-19 (J1721-1936)
Radio pulsar · in the globular cluster NGC6342
A neutron star spinning once every 1.00 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 6.20 h orbit with a helium white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Ophiuchus |
| Period | 1.004 s |
| Period derivative | 1.6×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 9.8 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.3×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 75.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 8,000 pc (26.1 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the globular cluster NGC6342 |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.13 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 6.20 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.0060 |
| Discovery | 1993 · misc, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 21m 01.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −19° 36′ 50″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 70° N. South of latitude 70° 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 26 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 463 million years.