Pulsar
PSR B1745-56 (J1749-5605)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.33 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 | Ara |
| Period | 1.332 s |
| Period derivative | 2.1×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 10.0 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.7×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.5×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 58.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,493 pc (8.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 49m 44.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −56° 05′ 19″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 34° N. South of latitude 34° 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 8,131 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.