Pulsar
PSR B1941-17 (J1944-1750)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.841 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 | Sagittarius |
| Period | 841.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 9.9×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 14 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.2×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.5×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 56.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,123 pc (13.4 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 44m 05.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −17° 50′ 11″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 72° N. South of latitude 72° S it never sets. 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 239 million years.