Pulsar
PSR B1841-05 (J1844-0538)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.256 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 | 255.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 9.7×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 417 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.6×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.3×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 411.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,404 pc (17.6 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1986 · jb2, htru_pks, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 44m 05.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −5° 38′ 34″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 84° 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 18 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 313 million years.