Pulsar
PSR B1828-11 (J1830-1059)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.405 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 | 405.1 ms |
| Period derivative | 6.0×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 107 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 5.0×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.6×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 159.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,146 pc (10.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1987 · jb2, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 30m 47.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −10° 59′ 27″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 79° N. South of latitude 79° 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 10 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 182 million years.