Pulsar
PSR B1736-31 (J1739-3131)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.529 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 | 529.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.9×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 451 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 3.2×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.9×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 596.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,404 pc (14.4 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1986 · jb2, htru_pks, pks1, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 39m 24.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | −31° 31′ 15″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 58° N. South of latitude 58° 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 14 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 255 million years.