Pulsar
PSR J1124-5916
Young pulsar · in the remnant G292.0+1.8
A neutron star spinning once every 0.135 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 | Centaurus |
| Period | 135.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 7.5×10⁻¹³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2,850 years |
| Magnetic field | 1.0×10¹³ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³⁷ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 329.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,000 pc (16.3 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G292.0+1.8 |
| Discovery | 2002 · misc, FermiBlind |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 11h 24m 39.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −59° 16′ 19″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 31° N. South of latitude 31° 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 16 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 289 million years.