Pulsar
PSR B1810+02 (J1812+0226)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.794 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 | 793.9 ms |
| Period derivative | 3.6×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 3.5 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.7×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.8×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 104.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 7,187 pc (23.4 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb3, pkssw, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 12m 53.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | +2° 26′ 57″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 88° 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 23 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 416 million years.