Pulsar
PSR B1937+24 (J1939+2449)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.645 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 | 645.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.8×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 560 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 3.5×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.7×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 142.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 7,115 pc (23.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1986 · ar2, ar3, ar327, gbncc, palfa, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 39m 05.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +24° 42′ 55″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 65° S. North of latitude 65° 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 23 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 412 million years.