Pulsar
PSR B0329+54 (J0332+5434)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.715 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 | Camelopardalis |
| Period | 714.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.0×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.5 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.2×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.2×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 26.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,680 pc (5.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1968 · misc, gb1, gb2, gb3, gb4, gbncc, jb1, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 3h 32m 59.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +54° 34′ 43″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 35° S. North of latitude 35° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in November, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 5,479 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 97 million years.