Pulsar
PSR B1944+17 (J1946+1805)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.441 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 | 440.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.4×10⁻¹⁷ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 290 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.0×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.1×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 16.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 300 pc (978.5 ly) |
| Discovery | 1970 · mol1, ar1, ar2, ar3, ar4, gb4, jb1, lotaas, misc, mol2, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 46m 53.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | +18° 05′ 41″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 72° S. North of latitude 72° 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.