Pulsar
PSR J1846-0258
Radio-quiet pulsar · in the remnant Kes75
A neutron star spinning once every 0.327 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. Its radio beams do not sweep across Earth; its pulses are seen only in X-rays or gamma rays. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Aquila |
| Period | 326.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 7.1×10⁻¹² s/s |
| Characteristic age | 728 years |
| Magnetic field | 4.9×10¹³ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 8.1×10³⁶ erg/s |
| Distance | 5,800 pc (18.9 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant Kes75 |
| Discovery | 2000 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 46m 24.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | −2° 58′ 30″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 87° N. It stands highest at midnight in July, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 19 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 336 million years.