Pulsar
PSR B1905+39 (J1907+4002)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.24 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 | Lyra |
| Period | 1.236 s |
| Period derivative | 5.4×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 36 million years |
| Magnetic field | 8.3×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.1×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 31.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,460 pc (8.0 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · gb1, gb2, gb4, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 07m 34.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +40° 02′ 06″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 50° S. North of latitude 50° 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 8,024 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 142 million years.