Pulsar
PSR B1740-31 (J1743-3150)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 2.41 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 | 2.415 s |
| Period derivative | 1.2×10⁻¹³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 317 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.7×10¹³ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.4×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 192.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,326 pc (10.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 43m 36.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −31° 50′ 23″ |
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 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 192 million years.