Pulsar
PSR J1904+0056
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.438 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 19.163 days 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 | Aquila |
| Period | 438.1 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.0×10⁻¹⁸ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.7 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 4.2×10¹⁰ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.9×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 127.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,525 pc (5.0 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.58 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 19.163 days |
| Discovery | 2022 · palfa, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 04m 07.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | +0° 56′ 59″ |
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 4,974 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 88 million years.