Vela Pulsar
Where is Vela Pulsar?
Below the horizon from London all the time in Vela.
- Rises
- Never
- Highest
- —
- Sets
- —
- Best after dark
- —
Can I see Vela Pulsar?
No. A pulsar’s visible light is far too faint for the eye or an amateur telescope. What you can do is look toward it.
The direction of Vela Pulsar never rises from London: it is too far south in the sky for this latitude.
When is it highest?
Its part of the sky is highest in the evening, around 10 pm, in February.
From London it never rises. Times for London.
What can you see in this direction?
Eyes
Direction onlyNothing visible.
Binoculars
Nothing to see at the pulsar itself; the surrounding Milky Way in Vela is rich.
Telescope
The pulsar is far too faint for amateur telescopes. The supernova remnant’s filaments show up in long-exposure photographs with filters.
About
The Vela Pulsar is a neutron star left behind by a supernova that exploded roughly 11,000 years ago, about 1,000 light-years away. It spins about 11 times per second.
It is famous for glitches: every few years it suddenly spins a little faster, probably because of changes deep inside the star.
The debris of the explosion, the Vela Supernova Remnant, spreads across a huge patch of the southern sky, but it is very faint.
It was discovered in 1968 by radio astronomers in Australia, one of the first pulsars found inside a supernova remnant, which helped confirm that pulsars are born in supernovae.
The Vela Pulsar is one of the brightest sources of gamma rays in the sky. Its visible-light flashes are extremely faint, around magnitude 24, detectable only with large professional telescopes.
X-ray images show jets and a bright nebula of particles blown out by the spinning neutron star.
Visible nearby
Questions
Can I see the Vela Pulsar?
What is a pulsar glitch?
Sources: SkyMate; star chart: Wikidata (CC0). Positions computed for your place and time with astronomy-engine. Data & Licences