Pulsar
PSR B1736-29 (J1739-2903)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.323 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 | 322.9 ms |
| Period derivative | 7.9×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 650 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.6×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.2×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 138.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,912 pc (9.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1986 · jb2, gbncc, htru_pks, misc, pks1, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 39m 34.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | −29° 03′ 02″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 61° N. South of latitude 61° 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 9,498 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 168 million years.