Pulsar
PSR J2035+3655
Millisecond pulsar · binary system
A millisecond pulsar spinning 41 times per second: an old neutron star spun up again (“recycled”) by matter transferred from a companion. It shares a 4.63 h 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 | 24.565 ms (41 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.2×10⁻¹⁸ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 314 million years |
| Magnetic field | 5.6×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 3.3×10³³ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 136.8 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,408 pc (17.6 thousand ly) |
| Companion | neutron star (estimated), ~1.58 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 4.63 h |
| Eccentricity | 0.000021 |
| Discovery | 2024 · misc, gbt820 |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 34m 60.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | +36° 55′ 52″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 53° S. North of latitude 53° 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 18 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 313 million years.