Pulsar
PSR B1800-21 (J1803-2137)
Young pulsar · in the remnant G8.7-0.1(?)
A neutron star spinning once every 0.134 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 | 133.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.3×10⁻¹³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 16 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 4.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.2×10³⁶ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 234.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,400 pc (14.4 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G8.7-0.1(?) |
| Discovery | 1986 · jb2, htru_pks, misc, pks1, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 03m 51.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −21° 37′ 07″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 68° N. South of latitude 68° 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 14 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 255 million years.