Pulsar
PSR J1745-2900
Magnetar
A magnetar with a 2.6×10¹⁴ gauss magnetic field: it spins slowly, but its magnetic energy escapes in X-ray and gamma-ray bursts. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Sagittarius |
| Period | 3.764 s |
| Period derivative | 1.8×10⁻¹¹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3,400 years |
| Magnetic field | 2.6×10¹⁴ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.3×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 1,778.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 8,300 pc (27.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 2013 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 45m 40.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −29° 00′ 30″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 61° N. South of latitude 61° 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 27 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 480 million years.