Pulsar
PSR B2044+15 (J2046+1540)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 1.14 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 | Delphinus |
| Period | 1.138 s |
| Period derivative | 1.8×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 99 million years |
| Magnetic field | 4.6×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.9×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 39.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,226 pc (10.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1978 · mol2, ar327, ar4, gb2, gb3, gb4, lotaas, misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 46m 39.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +15° 40′ 34″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 74° S. North of latitude 74° 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 11 thousand 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 187 million years.