Pulsar
PSR J1744-3922
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.172 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 4.59 h 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 | 172.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.5×10⁻¹⁸ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.8 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.7×10¹⁰ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 148.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,541 pc (14.8 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.097 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 4.59 h |
| Discovery | 2004 · pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 44m 02.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −39° 22′ 21″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 51° N. South of latitude 51° 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 263 million years.