Pulsar
PSR B1758-29 (J1801-2920)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.08 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 | 1.082 s |
| Period derivative | 3.3×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.2 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.9×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.0×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 125.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,013 pc (9.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1992 · pks1, gbncc, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 01m 46.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −29° 20′ 39″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 61° N. South of latitude 61° 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 9,827 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 174 million years.