Pulsar
PSR J1954+2529
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.931 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 82.717 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 | 931.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.3×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 12 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.1×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 6.2×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 182.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 7,803 pc (25.5 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.73 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 82.717 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.1140 |
| Discovery | 2022 · palfa |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 54m 19.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | +25° 29′ 27″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 65° S. North of latitude 65° 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 25 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 451 million years.