Pulsar
PSR B0458+46 (J0502+4654)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.639 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 | Auriga |
| Period | 638.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.6×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.8 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.9×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 8.5×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 41.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,700 pc (8.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · gb1, gb3, gbncc, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 5h 02m 04.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +46° 54′ 06″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 43° S. North of latitude 43° 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 8,806 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 156 million years.