Pulsar
PSR B1322+83 (J1321+8323)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.670 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 | 670.0 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.7×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 19 million years |
| Magnetic field | 6.2×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.4×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 13.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 960 pc (3.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1982 · gb1, gb2, gbncc, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 21m 45.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +83° 23′ 39″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 7° S. North of latitude 7° N it never sets.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 1106 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 56 million years.