Pulsar
PSR B0626+24 (J0629+2415)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.477 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 | Gemini |
| Period | 476.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.0×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.8 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.9×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.3×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 84.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,900 pc (9.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · gb1, ar327, gb3, gb4, lotaas, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 6h 29m 05.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +24° 15′ 41″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 66° S. North of latitude 66° 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 9,459 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 168 million years.