Pulsar
PSR B2043-04 (J2046-0421)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.55 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 | Aquarius |
| Period | 1.547 s |
| Period derivative | 1.5×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 17 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.5×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.6×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 36.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,400 pc (17.6 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, lotaas, misc, pks70, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 46m 00.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −4° 21′ 26″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 86° 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 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 312 million years.