Pulsar
PSR B1907+03 (J1910+0358)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 2.33 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 | 2.330 s |
| Period derivative | 4.5×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 8.3 million years |
| Magnetic field | 3.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.4×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 83.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,859 pc (9.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1975 · misc, lotaas, mol2, pksmb |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 10m 09.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | +3° 58′ 28″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 86° 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 9,325 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 165 million years.