Pulsar
PSR B1919+21 (LGM-1)
The first pulsar discovered — Jocelyn Bell Burnell, 1967
The regular 1.337-second pulses that PhD student Jocelyn Bell Burnell noticed on her chart recordings in Cambridge on 28 November 1967. Half-jokingly named "LGM-1" (Little Green Men); the rotating-neutron-star explanation came in 1968 and Hewish received the 1974 Nobel Prize. Its pulse profiles were immortalised on the cover of Joy Division's "Unknown Pleasures".
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Vulpecula |
| Period | 1,3373 s |
| Characteristic age | 16 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1,4 × 10¹² G |
| Distance | ~300 pc (~1,000 light-years) |
| Discovery | 28 November 1967, Bell Burnell & Hewish (Mullard, Cambridge) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 21m 44.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | +21° 53′ 02″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 68° S. North of latitude 68° 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 around the year 1048. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 17 million years.