Pulsar
PSR B1802+03 (J1805+0306)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.219 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 | Ophiuchus |
| Period | 218.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 10.0×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.5 million years |
| Magnetic field | 4.7×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.8×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 80.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,253 pc (17.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb3, gbncc, lotaas, pkssw |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 05m 10.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | +3° 06′ 30″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 87° S. It stands highest at midnight in June, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 17 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 304 million years.