Pulsar
PSR B0355+54 (J0358+5413)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.156 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 | 156.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.4×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 564 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 8.4×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.5×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 57.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,000 pc (3.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1972 · misc, gb1, gb2, gb3, gb4, gbncc, jb1, lotaas, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 3h 58m 53.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +54° 13′ 14″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 36° S. North of latitude 36° 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 around 1237 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 58 million years.