Pulsar
PSR B0841+80 (J0849+8028)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.60 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 | 1.602 s |
| Period derivative | 4.5×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 57 million years |
| Magnetic field | 8.6×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.3×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 34.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,303 pc (10.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb2, gbncc, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 8h 49m 01.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | +80° 28′ 59″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 10° S. North of latitude 10° N it never sets.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 11 thousand 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 191 million years.