Pulsar
PSR J1640-4631
Radio-quiet pulsar · in the remnant G338.3-0.0
A neutron star spinning once every 0.206 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. Its radio beams do not sweep across Earth; its pulses are seen only in X-rays or gamma rays. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Ara |
| Period | 206.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 9.8×10⁻¹³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3,350 years |
| Magnetic field | 1.4×10¹³ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.4×10³⁶ erg/s |
| Distance | 12,750 pc (41.6 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G338.3-0.0 |
| Discovery | 2014 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 40m 43.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | −46° 31′ 35″ |
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 42 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 738 million years.