Pulsar
PSR B2000+32 (J2002+3217)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.697 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 | 696.8 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.1×10⁻¹³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 105 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 8.7×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 142.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 6,458 pc (21.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1986 · jb2, ar327, palfa |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 02m 04.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +32° 17′ 18″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 58° S. North of latitude 58° 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 21 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 374 million years.