Pulsar
PSR B1854+00 (J1857+0057)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.357 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 | 356.9 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.5×10⁻¹⁷ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 104 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.4×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.7×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 82.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,512 pc (8.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1983 · misc, ar4, gbncc, palfa, pksmb, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 57m 00.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +0° 57′ 17″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 89° 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 8,193 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 145 million years.