Pulsar
PSR J1631-4722
Young pulsar · in the remnant G336.7+0.5
A neutron star spinning once every 0.119 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 | Norma |
| Period | 118.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.6×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 34 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 2.6×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.3×10³⁶ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 873.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 6,793 pc (22.2 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G336.7+0.5 |
| Discovery | 2025 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 31m 59.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | −47° 22′ 07″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 43° N. South of latitude 43° 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 22 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 393 million years.