Pulsar
PSR B2148+52 (J2150+5247)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.332 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 | 332.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.0×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 521 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.9×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.1×10³⁴ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 148.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,610 pc (11.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1985 · gb2, gb3, lotaas, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 21h 50m 37.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +52° 47′ 50″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 37° S. North of latitude 37° 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 12 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 209 million years.