Pulsar
PSR B2002+31 (J2004+3137)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 2.11 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 | 2.111 s |
| Period derivative | 7.5×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 449 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10¹³ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.1×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 234.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 8,000 pc (26.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1970 · jb1, ar327, gb3, jb2, palfa |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 04m 52.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +31° 37′ 10″ |
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 26 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 463 million years.