Pulsar
PSR J1852+0040
Radio-quiet pulsar · in the remnant G33.6+0.1(Kes79)
A neutron star spinning once every 0.105 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. Its radio beams do not sweep across Earth; its pulses are seen only in X-rays or gamma rays. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Aquila |
| Period | 104.9 ms |
| Period derivative | 8.7×10⁻¹⁸ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 192 million years |
| Magnetic field | 3.1×10¹⁰ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.0×10³² erg/s |
| Distance | 10,000 pc (32.6 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G33.6+0.1(Kes79) |
| Discovery | 2005 · misc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 18h 52m 38.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +0° 40′ 20″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 89° S. It stands highest at midnight in July, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 33 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 579 million years.