Pulsar
PSR B1842-02 (J1844-0244)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.508 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 | Aquila |
| Period | 507.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.7×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 481 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 3.0×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.0×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 422.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,900 pc (16.0 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1986 · jb2, htru_pks, pksmb, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 44m 45.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −2° 44′ 41″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 87° N. 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 16 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 284 million years.