Pulsar
PSR B1911+13 (J1913+1400)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.521 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 | 521.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 8.0×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 10 million years |
| Magnetic field | 6.6×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.2×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 145.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,400 pc (17.6 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1974 · ar1, ar2, ar3, misc, palfa, pksmb, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 13m 24.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +14° 00′ 53″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 76° S. North of latitude 76° 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 312 million years.