Pulsar
PSR J1747-2809
Young pulsar · in the remnant G0.9+0.1
A neutron star spinning once every 0.052 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Sagittarius |
| Period | 52.153 ms (19 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.6×10⁻¹³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5,310 years |
| Magnetic field | 2.9×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.3×10³⁷ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 1,133.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 8,141 pc (26.6 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G0.9+0.1 |
| Discovery | 2009 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 47m 22.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | −28° 09′ 15″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 62° N. South of latitude 62° 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 471 million years.