Pulsar
PSR B0011+47 (J0014+4746)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.24 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 | Andromeda |
| Period | 1.241 s |
| Period derivative | 5.6×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 35 million years |
| Magnetic field | 8.5×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 30.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,776 pc (5.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · gb1, gb2, gb3, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 0h 14m 17.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +47° 46′ 33″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 42° S. North of latitude 42° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in September, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 5,793 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 103 million years.