Pulsar
PSR B1753-24 (J1756-2435)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.670 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 | 670.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.8×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 37 million years |
| Magnetic field | 4.4×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.7×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 367.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,833 pc (12.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1986 · jb2, htru_pks, pks1, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 56m 57.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | −24° 35′ 34″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 65° N. South of latitude 65° 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 13 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 222 million years.