Pulsar
PSR B1953+50 (J1955+5059)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.519 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 | Cygnus |
| Period | 518.9 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.4×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 6.0 million years |
| Magnetic field | 8.5×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.9×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 32.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,186 pc (7.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · gb1, gb2, gb4, gbncc, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 55m 18.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +50° 59′ 55″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 39° S. North of latitude 39° 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 7,130 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 126 million years.