Pulsar
PSR B1848+04 (J1851+0418)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.285 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 | Serpens |
| Period | 284.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.1×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 4.1 million years |
| Magnetic field | 5.6×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.9×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 115.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,089 pc (13.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1984 · misc, palfa, pksmb, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 51m 03.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +4° 18′ 12″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 86° S. 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 13 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 237 million years.