Pulsar
PSR J2108+4516
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.577 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 269 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 | 577.2 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.4×10⁻¹⁵ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 2.1 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.6×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 9.0×10³² erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 83.5 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,268 pc (10.7 thousand ly) |
| Companion | neutron star (estimated), ~16.70 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 269 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0874 |
| Discovery | 2021 · chime |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 21h 08m 23.4s |
| Declination (J2000) | +45° 16′ 25″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 45° S. North of latitude 45° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in August, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 11 thousand 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 189 million years.