Pulsar
PSR J2204+2700
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.085 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 815 days orbit with a helium white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Pegasus |
| Period | 84.703 ms (12 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 1.3×10⁻¹⁹ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 10.3 billion years |
| Magnetic field | 3.4×10⁹ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 8.5×10³⁰ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 35.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,195 pc (10.4 thousand ly) |
| Companion | helium white dwarf (estimated), ~0.42 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 815 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0015 |
| Discovery | 2013 · ar327, fast_gpps |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 22h 04m 43.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +27° 00′ 55″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 63° S. North of latitude 63° 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 10 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 185 million years.