Pulsar
PSR J1932+1500
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 1.86 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 199 days orbit with a helium white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Aquila |
| Period | 1.864 s |
| Period derivative | 4.6×10⁻¹⁶ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 64 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.4×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.8×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 90.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,839 pc (9.3 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.39 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 199 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0289 |
| Discovery | 2017 · palfa, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 32m 46.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +15° 00′ 22″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 75° S. North of latitude 75° N it never sets. 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 9,260 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 164 million years.