Pulsar
PSR J1711-4322
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.103 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 922 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 | 102.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.7×10⁻¹⁷ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 61 million years |
| Magnetic field | 5.3×10¹⁰ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.7×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 191.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,986 pc (13.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.24 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 922 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0024 |
| Discovery | 2006 · pksmb, htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 11m 10.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −43° 22′ 53″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 47° N. South of latitude 47° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in June, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 13 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 231 million years.