Pulsar
PSR B1633+24 (J1635+2418)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.491 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 | Hercules |
| Period | 490.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.2×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 65 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.5×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.0×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 24.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,433 pc (7.9 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1980 · misc, ar327, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 35m 25.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +24° 18′ 47″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 66° S. North of latitude 66° 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 7,935 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 141 million years.