Pulsar
PSR B1734-35 (J1737-3555)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.398 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 | 397.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 6.1×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.0 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.6×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.8×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 89.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,485 pc (8.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 37m 40.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −35° 55′ 44″ |
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 8,105 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 144 million years.