Pulsar
PSR J0509+3801
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.077 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 9.11 h orbit with a CO white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Auriga |
| Period | 76.541 ms (13 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 7.9×10⁻¹⁸ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 153 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.5×10¹⁰ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.0×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 69.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,562 pc (5.1 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.76 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 9.11 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.5864 |
| Discovery | 2014 · gbncc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 5h 09m 31.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +38° 01′ 18″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 52° S. North of latitude 52° 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 5,095 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 90 million years.