Pulsar
PSR J1833-1034
Young pulsar · in the remnant G21.5-0.9
A neutron star spinning once every 0.062 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 | Scutum |
| Period | 61.884 ms (16 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.0×10⁻¹³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 4,850 years |
| Magnetic field | 3.6×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.4×10³⁷ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 169.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,100 pc (13.4 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G21.5-0.9 |
| Discovery | 2005 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 33m 33.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −10° 34′ 07″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 79° N. South of latitude 79° 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 13 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 237 million years.