Pulsar
PSR J1938+2302_P
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.053 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 33.970 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 | Vulpecula |
| Period | 52.762 ms (19 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 4.0×10⁻¹⁹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.1 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 4.6×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.1×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 303.4 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 8,945 pc (29.2 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~1.13 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 33.970 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000404 |
| Discovery | 2025 · fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 38m 11.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +23° 02′ 00″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 67° S. North of latitude 67° 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 29 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 518 million years.