Pulsar
PSR J0501+4516
Magnetar
A magnetar with a 1.9×10¹⁴ 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 | Auriga |
| Period | 5.762 s |
| Period derivative | 5.8×10⁻¹² s/s |
| Characteristic age | 16 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.9×10¹⁴ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.2×10³³ erg/s |
| Distance | 2,000 pc (6.5 thousand ly) |
| Discovery | 2008 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 5h 01m 06.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +45° 16′ 34″ |
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 December, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 6,523 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 116 million years.