Pulsar
PSR B0114+58 (J0117+5914)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.101 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 | Cassiopeia |
| Period | 101.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.9×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 275 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 7.8×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.2×10³⁵ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 49.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,768 pc (5.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb3, FermiAssoc, gbncc, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 1h 17m 38.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +59° 14′ 38″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 31° S. North of latitude 31° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in October, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 5,767 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 102 million years.