Pulsar
PSR B2106+44 (J2108+4441)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.415 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 | 414.9 ms |
| Period derivative | 8.6×10⁻¹⁷ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 76 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.9×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.8×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 139.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 4,346 pc (14.2 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1973 · jb1, gb1, gb3, gb4, gbncc, lotaas, gbt820 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 21h 08m 20.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | +44° 41′ 49″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 45° S. North of latitude 45° 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 14 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 251 million years.