Pulsar
PSR B1718-35 (J1721-3532)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.280 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 | 280.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.5×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 176 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 2.7×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.5×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 496.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,600 pc (15.0 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 21m 32.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −35° 32′ 50″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 54° N. South of latitude 54° 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 15 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 266 million years.