Pulsar
PSR B1851-79 (J1900-7951)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.28 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 | Octans |
| Period | 1.279 s |
| Period derivative | 1.9×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 11 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.6×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.5×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 39.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,375 pc (7.7 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 00m 24.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −79° 51′ 48″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 10° N. South of latitude 10° S it never sets.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 7,746 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 137 million years.