Pulsar
PSR J1420-5625
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.034 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 40.295 days orbit with a helium white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Centaurus |
| Period | 34.117 ms (29 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 6.8×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 8.0 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.5×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.7×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 64.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,328 pc (4.3 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.44 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 40.295 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0035 |
| Discovery | 2004 · pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 14h 20m 03.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −56° 25′ 55″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 34° N. South of latitude 34° 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 4,331 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 77 million years.