Pulsar
PSR J1141-6545
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.394 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 4.74 h orbit with a neutron star. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Musca |
| Period | 393.9 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.3×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.5 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.8×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 116.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 10,000 pc (32.6 thousand ly) |
| Companion | neutron star (estimated), ~1.21 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 4.74 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.1719 |
| Discovery | 2000 · pksmb, htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 11h 41m 07.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −65° 45′ 19″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 24° N. South of latitude 24° 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 33 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 579 million years.