Pulsar
PSR B1930+22 (J1932+2220)
Young pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.144 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 | Vulpecula |
| Period | 144.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 5.8×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 40 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 2.9×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.5×10³⁵ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 218.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 10,900 pc (35.6 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1975 · ar1, FermiAssoc, ar2, ar3, gb3, gbncc, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 32m 22.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +22° 20′ 51″ |
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 36 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 631 million years.