Pulsar
PSR B2306+55 (J2308+5547)
Radio pulsar
A neutron star spinning once every 0.475 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 | Cassiopeia |
| Period | 475.1 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.0×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 38 million years |
| Magnetic field | 3.1×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.3×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 46.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,075 pc (6.8 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1972 · jb1, gb2, gb3, gb4, gbncc, lotaas, misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 23h 08m 13.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +55° 47′ 36″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 34° S. North of latitude 34° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in September, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 6,768 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 120 million years.