Pulsar
PSR B1907+00 (J1909+0007)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.02 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 | 1.017 s |
| Period derivative | 5.5×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.9 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.4×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.1×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 112.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,358 pc (14.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1973 · misc, ar2, ar4, gb2, gb4, lotaas, mol2, pks70, pksmb, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 09m 35.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +0° 07′ 58″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 90° N. 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 14 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 252 million years.