Pulsar
PSR B0655+64 (J0700+6418)
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.196 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 1.029 days orbit with a CO white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Camelopardalis |
| Period | 195.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 6.9×10⁻¹⁹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 4.5 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 1.2×10¹⁰ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.6×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 8.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 413 pc (1.3 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.80 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 1.029 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000008 |
| Discovery | 1978 · gb1, gb2, gbncc, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 7h 00m 37.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +64° 18′ 11″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 26° S. North of latitude 26° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in January, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around the year 679. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 24 million years.