Pulsar
PSR B1726-00 (J1728-0007)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.386 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 | Ophiuchus |
| Period | 386.0 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.1×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.5 million years |
| Magnetic field | 6.7×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.7×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 41.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,458 pc (4.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb3, gbncc, lotaas, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 28m 34.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −0° 07′ 45″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 90° N. 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 4,755 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 84 million years.