Pulsar
PSR B1508+55 (J1509+5531)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.740 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 | Draco |
| Period | 739.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.0×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.3 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.0×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.9×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 19.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,100 pc (6.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1968 · gb1, gb2, gb3, gb4, gbncc, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 09m 25.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +55° 31′ 33″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 34° S. North of latitude 34° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in May, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 6,849 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 122 million years.