Pulsar
PSR B1924+16 (J1926+1648)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.580 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 | Sagitta |
| Period | 579.8 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.8×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 511 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 3.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.6×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 176.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 6,000 pc (19.6 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1974 · ar1, ar2, ar3, ar4, jb2, misc, palfa, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 26m 45.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +16° 48′ 33″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 73° S. North of latitude 73° 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 20 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 347 million years.