Pulsar
PSR J1811-1736
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.104 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 18.779 days orbit with a neutron star. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Sagittarius |
| Period | 104.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 9.0×10⁻¹⁹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.8 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 9.8×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.1×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 473.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,419 pc (14.4 thousand ly) |
| Companion | neutron star (estimated), ~1.04 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 18.779 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.8280 |
| Discovery | 2000 · pksmb, htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 11m 55.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −17° 36′ 38″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 72° N. South of latitude 72° 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 14 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 256 million years.