Pulsar
PSR J1119-6127
Young pulsar · in the remnant G292.2-0.5
A neutron star spinning once every 0.408 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 | Carina |
| Period | 408.0 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.0×10⁻¹² s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1,610 years |
| Magnetic field | 4.1×10¹³ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.3×10³⁶ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 704.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 8,400 pc (27.4 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G292.2-0.5 |
| Discovery | 2000 · pksmb, FermiBlind, htru_pks, misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 11h 19m 14.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | −61° 27′ 49″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 29° N. South of latitude 29° 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 27 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 486 million years.