Pulsar
PSR J2032+4127
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.143 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 16,800 days orbit with a neutron star. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Cygnus |
| Period | 143.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 1.1×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 201 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 1.3×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 1.5×10³⁵ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 114.7 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 1,330 pc (4.3 thousand ly) |
| Companion | neutron star (estimated), ~18.50 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 16,800 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.9600 |
| Discovery | 2009 · FermiBlind, fast_gpps, gbt820 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 32m 13.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | +41° 27′ 24″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 49° S. North of latitude 49° 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 4,338 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 77 million years.