Pulsar
PSR B1746-30 (J1749-3002)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.610 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 | Sagittarius |
| Period | 609.9 ms |
| Period derivative | 7.9×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.2 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.2×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.4×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 509.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 12,800 pc (41.7 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 49m 13.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −30° 02′ 35″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 60° N. South of latitude 60° 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 42 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 741 million years.