Pulsar
PSR B1822-09 (J1825-0935)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.769 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 | Scutum |
| Period | 769.0 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.2×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 233 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 6.4×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.5×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 19.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 300 pc (978.5 ly) |
| Discovery | 1972 · jb1, gb2, htru_pks, misc, mol2, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 25m 30.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −9° 35′ 21″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 80° N. 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 around the year 1048. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 17 million years.