Pulsar
PSR J1400-6325
Young pulsar · in the remnant G310.6-1.6
A neutron star spinning once every 0.031 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 | 31.182 ms (32 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 3.9×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 13 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.1×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.1×10³⁷ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 563.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 7,000 pc (22.8 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G310.6-1.6 |
| Discovery | 2010 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 14h 00m 45.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −63° 25′ 43″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 27° N. South of latitude 27° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in April, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 23 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 405 million years.