Pulsar
PSR J1747-2958
Young pulsar · in the remnant G359.23-0.82
A neutron star spinning once every 0.099 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 | 98.814 ms (10 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 6.1×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 26 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 2.5×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.5×10³⁶ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 101.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,520 pc (8.2 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G359.23-0.82 |
| Discovery | 2002 · misc, FermiBlind |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 17h 47m 15.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | −29° 58′ 01″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 60° N. South of latitude 60° 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 8,219 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 146 million years.