Pulsar
PSR B2000+40 (J2002+4050)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.905 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 | 905.1 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.7×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 8.3 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.3×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 131.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 6,383 pc (20.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb3, gbncc, fast_gpps, gbt820 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 02m 44.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | +40° 50′ 54″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 49° S. North of latitude 49° 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 369 million years.