Pulsar
PSR B1846-06 (J1849-0636)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.45 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 | 1.451 s |
| Period derivative | 4.6×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 497 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 8.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.0×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 148.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,846 pc (12.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1972 · jb1, gb3, htru_pks, misc, mol2, pks70, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 49m 06.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −6° 37′ 07″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 83° N. It stands highest at midnight in July, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 13 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 223 million years.