Pulsar
PSR B2053+36 (J2055+3630)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.222 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 | 221.5 ms |
| Period derivative | 3.7×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 9.5 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.9×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.3×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 97.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,000 pc (16.3 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1982 · gb1, ar327, gb2, gb3, gb4, gbncc, lotaas, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 55m 31.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +36° 30′ 22″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 53° S. North of latitude 53° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in August, 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 289 million years.