Pulsar
PSR J1050-5953
Magnetar
A magnetar with a 5.0×10¹⁴ gauss magnetic field: it spins slowly, but its magnetic energy escapes in X-ray and gamma-ray bursts. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Carina |
| Period | 6.452 s |
| Period derivative | 3.8×10⁻¹¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2,680 years |
| Magnetic field | 5.0×10¹⁴ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.6×10³³ erg/s |
| Distance | 9,000 pc (29.4 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1986 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 10h 50m 07.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −59° 53′ 21″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 30° N. South of latitude 30° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in March, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 29 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 521 million years.