Pulsar
PSR J1528-3146
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.061 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 3.180 days orbit with a CO white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Lupus |
| Period | 60.822 ms (16 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.5×10⁻¹⁹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.9 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 3.9×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.4×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 18.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 774 pc (2.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~1.15 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 3.180 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000214 |
| Discovery | 2007 · pkssw, gbncc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 28m 34.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | −31° 46′ 07″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 58° N. South of latitude 58° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in May, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 499 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 45 million years.