Pulsar
PSR B1806-53 (J1810-5338)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.261 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 | Telescopium |
| Period | 261.0 ms |
| Period derivative | 3.9×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 11 million years |
| Magnetic field | 3.2×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 8.6×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 45.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,648 pc (5.4 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 10m 44.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −53° 38′ 08″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 36° N. South of latitude 36° 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 5,375 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 95 million years.