Pulsar
PSR B2022+50 (J2023+5037)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.373 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 | 372.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.5×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.4 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.8×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.9×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 33.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,059 pc (6.7 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb2, lotaas, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 23m 42.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | +50° 37′ 35″ |
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 6,716 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 119 million years.