Pulsar
PSR B1757-24 (J1801-2451)
Young pulsar · in the remnant G5.4-1.2
A neutron star spinning once every 0.125 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 | 124.9 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.3×10⁻¹³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 16 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 4.0×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.6×10³⁶ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 291.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,803 pc (12.4 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G5.4-1.2 |
| Discovery | 1985 · misc, FermiBlind, htru_pks, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 01m 00.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −24° 51′ 27″ |
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 12 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 220 million years.