Pulsar
PSR B1848+12 (J1851+1259)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.21 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 | Hercules |
| Period | 1.205 s |
| Period derivative | 1.1×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.7 million years |
| Magnetic field | 3.7×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.6×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 70.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,644 pc (8.6 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb3, lotaas, misc, pksmb, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 51m 13.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | +12° 59′ 35″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 77° S. North of latitude 77° N it never sets. 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 8,624 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 153 million years.