Pulsar
PSR J1907+0631
Young pulsar · in the remnant G40.5-0.5
A neutron star spinning once every 0.324 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Aquila |
| Period | 323.6 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.5×10⁻¹³ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 11 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.2×10¹³ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.3×10³⁵ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 429.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,400 pc (11.1 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G40.5-0.5 |
| Discovery | 2017 · palfa, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 07m 03.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +6° 31′ 19″ |
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 11 thousand 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 197 million years.