Pulsar
PSR J1614-2318
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 3.152 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 | Scorpius |
| Period | 33.504 ms (30 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 5.2×10⁻²⁰ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 10.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.4×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 52.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,229 pc (10.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.093 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 3.152 days |
| Discovery | 2006 · misc, gbncc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 14m 02.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −23° 18′ 24″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 67° N. South of latitude 67° 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 11 thousand 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 187 million years.