Pulsar
PSR B0450+55 (J0454+5543)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.341 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 | 340.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.4×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.3 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.1×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.4×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 14.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,180 pc (3.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · gb1, gb2, gb4, gbncc, lotaas, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 4h 54m 07.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +55° 43′ 42″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 34° S. North of latitude 34° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in December, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 1824 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 68 million years.