Pulsar
PSR B1747-31 (J1750-3157)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.910 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 | 910.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.0×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 73 million years |
| Magnetic field | 4.3×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.0×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 206.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,335 pc (14.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 50m 47.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | −31° 57′ 44″ |
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 251 million years.