Pulsar
PSR B2011+38 (J2013+3845)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.230 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 | 230.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 8.9×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 412 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.4×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.9×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 238.2 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 7,123 pc (23.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb3, fast_gpps, gbt820 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 13m 10.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +38° 45′ 43″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 51° S. North of latitude 51° 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 23 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 412 million years.