Pulsar
PSR J1809-1943
Magnetar
A magnetar with a 1.3×10¹⁴ 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 | 5.541 s |
| Period derivative | 2.8×10⁻¹² s/s |
| Characteristic age | 31 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10¹⁴ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.6×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 178.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,600 pc (11.7 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 2004 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 09m 51.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −19° 43′ 52″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 70° N. South of latitude 70° 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 12 thousand 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 208 million years.