Pulsar
PSR B1852+10 (J1854+1050)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.573 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 | 573.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 6.4×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 14 million years |
| Magnetic field | 6.1×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.3×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 207.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 13,820 pc (45.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1986 · ar2, ar3, ar327, ar4, pksmb, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 54m 29.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +10° 46′ 42″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 79° S. North of latitude 79° 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 45 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 800 million years.