Pulsar
PSR B1919+14 (J1921+1419)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.618 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 | 618.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.6×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.8 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.9×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.4×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 91.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,826 pc (9.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1974 · ar1, jb2, lotaas, misc, palfa, pksmb, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 21m 24.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | +14° 19′ 17″ |
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 9,217 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 164 million years.