Pulsar
PSR B1845-01 (J1848-0123)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.659 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 | 659.4 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.3×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.0 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.9×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.2×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 160.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,400 pc (14.4 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1971 · misc, gbncc, jb1, jb2, mol2, pks70, pksmb, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 48m 23.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −1° 23′ 58″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 89° N. It stands highest at midnight in July, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 14 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 255 million years.