Your Eyes In Space Open the simulation

Pulsar

PSR J1900+0213_P

Radio pulsar · binary system

A neutron star spinning once every 0.032 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 827 days orbit with a CO white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.

TypePulsar
ConstellationAquila
Period32.090 ms (31 Hz)
Dispersion measure310.5 pc/cm³
Distance5,718 pc (18.6 thousand ly)
CompanionCO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.66 M☉
Orbital period827 days
Discovery2021 · fast_gpps
SourceATNF Pulsar Catalogue
Right ascension (J2000)19h 00m 12.0s
Declination (J2000)+2° 13′ 00″

In the sky

Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 88° 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 19 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 331 million years.

Open in the simulation