Pulsar
PSR J0146+6145
Magnetar
A magnetar with a 1.3×10¹⁴ gauss magnetic field: it spins slowly, but its magnetic energy escapes in X-ray and gamma-ray bursts. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Cassiopeia |
| Period | 8.689 s |
| Period derivative | 2.0×10⁻¹² s/s |
| Characteristic age | 69 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10¹⁴ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³² erg/s |
| Distance | 3,600 pc (11.7 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 1994 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 1h 46m 22.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +61° 45′ 03″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 28° S. North of latitude 28° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in October, 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 208 million years.