Pulsar
PSR J1957+2831
Radio pulsar · in the remnant G65.1+0.6(?)
A neutron star spinning once every 0.308 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 | Vulpecula |
| Period | 307.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 3.1×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 1.6 million years |
| Magnetic field | 9.9×10¹¹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.2×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 139.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 6,891 pc (22.5 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G65.1+0.6(?) |
| Discovery | 1998 · misc, ar327, gbncc, palfa, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 19h 57m 19.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +28° 31′ 44″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 61° S. North of latitude 61° 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 22 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 399 million years.