Pulsar
PSR B1815-14 (J1818-1422)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.291 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 | 291.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.0×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.3 million years |
| Magnetic field | 7.8×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.2×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 619.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,439 pc (17.7 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1986 · jb2, htru_pks, pks1, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 18m 23.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −14° 22′ 37″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 76° N. South of latitude 76° 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 18 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 315 million years.