Pulsar
PSR B1747-46 (J1751-4657)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.742 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 | 742.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.3×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 9.1 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.9×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.3×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 20.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 742 pc (2.4 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1969 · misc, htru_pks, mol2, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 51m 42.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −46° 57′ 27″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 43° N. South of latitude 43° 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 around 395 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 43 million years.