Pulsar
PSR B2035+36 (J2037+3621)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.619 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 | 618.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.5×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.2 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.7×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.5×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 93.6 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,851 pc (15.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb2, gbncc, gbt820 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 37m 27.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +36° 21′ 24″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 54° S. North of latitude 54° 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 16 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 281 million years.