Pulsar
PSR J1740-3052
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.570 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 231 days orbit with a neutron star. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Scorpius |
| Period | 570.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.6×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 354 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 3.9×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.4×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 738.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,748 pc (15.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | neutron star (estimated), ~15.80 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 231 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.5789 |
| Discovery | 2001 · pksmb, htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 40m 50.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −30° 52′ 04″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 59° N. South of latitude 59° 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 15 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 275 million years.