Pulsar
PSR B1839-04 (J1842-0359)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.84 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 | 1.840 s |
| Period derivative | 5.1×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 57 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.8×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.2×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 196.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,711 pc (12.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1986 · jb2, htru_pks, misc, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 42m 26.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −4° 00′ 01″ |
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 12 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 215 million years.