Pulsar
PSR B0136+57 (J0139+5814)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.272 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 | 272.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.1×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 403 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.7×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.1×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 73.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,600 pc (8.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · gb1, FermiAssoc, gb2, gb3, gb4, gbncc, lotaas, misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 1h 39m 19.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +58° 14′ 32″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 32° S. North of latitude 32° 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 8,480 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 150 million years.