Pulsar
PSR B0643+80 (J0653+8051)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.21 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 | 1.214 s |
| Period derivative | 3.8×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.1 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.2×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 8.4×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 33.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,348 pc (7.7 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1982 · gb1, gbncc, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 6h 53m 15.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | +80° 52′ 00″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 9° S. North of latitude 9° N it never sets.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 7,658 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 136 million years.