Pulsar
PSR J2045+3633
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.032 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 32.298 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 | Cygnus |
| Period | 31.682 ms (32 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 5.9×10⁻¹⁹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 853 million years |
| Magnetic field | 4.4×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 7.3×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 129.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 5,629 pc (18.4 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.96 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 32.298 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0172 |
| Discovery | 2017 · htru_eff, ar327, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 45m 01.5s |
| Declination (J2000) | +36° 33′ 01″ |
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 326 million years.