Pulsar
PSR B1740-13 (J1743-1351)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.405 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 | Serpens |
| Period | 405.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.8×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 13 million years |
| Magnetic field | 4.5×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.9×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 116.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,476 pc (11.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb3, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 43m 37.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −13° 51′ 38″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 76° N. South of latitude 76° 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 11 thousand 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 201 million years.