Rapidly spinning neutron star at the heart of the Crab Nebula, spinning about 30 times per second.
Pulsar: A neutron star sweeping a beam past us, ticking like a clock. Every kind of thing there is →
No. No telescope on Earth will show you this one; it is here to be understood, not seen. It is here because it is worth knowing about — and because leaving it out would make the sky look emptier than it is.
On that same scale model, the Crab Pulsar sits right at the center of the Crab Nebula -- about 6.5 meters from the Sun. Light takes 7 thousand years to get here from the Crab Pulsar, so what you are looking at is the Crab Pulsar as it was 7 thousand years ago.
| Across | 20 km |
|---|---|
| Distance from us | ~6,500 light-years |
| One spin | 0.0 hours |
Nobody flew a tape measure out there. Every number on this page was worked out from the ground:
The Milky Wayspiral galaxyNaked eye
Proxima CentauristarWith effortAlpha Centauri A & Bbinary star systemNaked eyeSiriusstarNaked eyeVegastarNaked eyeArcturusstarNaked eyeNot this one. But the sky over your head is full of ones you can see, and the Planetarium knows which.