Pulsar
PSR B1823-13 (J1826-1334)
Young pulsar · in the remnant G18.0-0.7
A neutron star spinning once every 0.101 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 | 101.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 7.5×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 21 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 2.8×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.8×10³⁶ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 231.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,608 pc (11.8 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G18.0-0.7 |
| Discovery | 1986 · jb2, htru_pks, misc, pks1, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 26m 13.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −13° 34′ 47″ |
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 12 thousand 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 209 million years.