Pulsar
PSR B2148+63 (J2149+6329)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.380 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 | Cepheus |
| Period | 380.1 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.7×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 36 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.6×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 129.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,800 pc (9.1 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1972 · jb1, gb1, gb2, gb3, gb4, lotaas |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 21h 49m 58.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +63° 29′ 44″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 27° S. North of latitude 27° 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 9,132 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 162 million years.