Pulsar
PSR B1901+10 (J1904+1011)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.86 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 | 1.857 s |
| Period derivative | 2.8×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 107 million years |
| Magnetic field | 7.2×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.7×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 137.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,602 pc (18.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1975 · ar1, ar2, ar3, misc, palfa, pksmb, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 04m 02.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | +10° 11′ 34″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 80° S. North of latitude 80° 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 18 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 324 million years.