Pulsar
PSR B1754-24 (J1757-2421)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.234 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 | 234.1 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.3×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 286 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.8×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.0×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 179.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,125 pc (10.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1974 · misc, FermiAssoc, htru_pks, jb2, mol1, pks1, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 57m 29.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | −24° 22′ 07″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 66° N. South of latitude 66° 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 10 thousand 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 181 million years.