Pulsar
PSR B1758-23 (J1801-2304)
Young pulsar · in the remnant W28(?)
A neutron star spinning once every 0.416 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 | 415.8 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.1×10⁻¹³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 58 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 6.9×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.2×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 1,067.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,000 pc (13.0 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant W28(?) |
| Discovery | 1985 · misc, htru_pks, pks1, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 01m 19.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −23° 04′ 45″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 67° N. South of latitude 67° 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 231 million years.