Pulsar
PSR B1838-04 (J1841-0425)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.186 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 | 186.1 ms |
| Period derivative | 6.4×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 461 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.1×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.9×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 325.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,399 pc (14.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1986 · jb2, htru_pks, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 41m 05.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −4° 25′ 20″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 86° 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 255 million years.