Pulsar
PSR B1727-47 (J1731-4744)
Young pulsar · in the remnant G343.0-6.0(RCW114)
A neutron star spinning once every 0.830 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 | Ara |
| Period | 829.9 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.6×10⁻¹³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 80 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.2×10¹³ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.1×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 123.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 700 pc (2.3 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G343.0-6.0(RCW114) |
| Discovery | 1968 · mol1, FermiAssoc, htru_pks, misc, mol2, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 31m 42.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −47° 44′ 36″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 42° N. South of latitude 42° 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 around 258 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 41 million years.