Pulsar
PSR J1901+0658
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.076 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 14.455 days orbit with a neutron star. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Aquila |
| Period | 75.744 ms (13 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 2.2×10⁻¹⁹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 5.5 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 4.1×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.0×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 125.9 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,823 pc (12.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | neutron star (estimated), ~1.21 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 14.455 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.3662 |
| Discovery | 2021 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 01m 22.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +6° 58′ 24″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 83° 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 12 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 221 million years.