Pulsar
PSR B1804-12 (J1806-1154)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.523 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 | Serpens |
| Period | 522.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.4×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.9 million years |
| Magnetic field | 8.7×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.9×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 122.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,005 pc (9.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb3, htru_pks, misc, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 06m 06.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −11° 54′ 29″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 78° N. South of latitude 78° 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 9,801 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.