Pulsar
PSR B1910+10 (J1912+1036)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.409 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 | 409.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.6×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 411 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 2.6×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.1×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 147.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,154 pc (13.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1975 · ar1, palfa, pksmb, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 12m 46.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +10° 36′ 42″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 79° S. North of latitude 79° 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 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 240 million years.