Pulsar
PSR B1834-04 (J1836-0436)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.354 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 | 354.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.7×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.4 million years |
| Magnetic field | 7.8×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.5×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 231.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,358 pc (14.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1986 · jb2, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 36m 51.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −4° 36′ 38″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 85° 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 14 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 252 million years.