Pulsar
PSR J2229+6114
Young pulsar · in the remnant G106.6+2.9
A neutron star spinning once every 0.052 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Cepheus |
| Period | 51.648 ms (19 Hz) |
| Period derivative | 7.7×10⁻¹⁴ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 11 thousand years |
| Magnetic field | 2.0×10¹² G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 2.2×10³⁷ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 205.1 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 3,000 pc (9.8 thousand ly) |
| Location | in the remnant G106.6+2.9 |
| Discovery | 2001 · misc, FermiBlind, gbncc |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 22h 29m 05.3s |
| Declination (J2000) | +61° 14′ 09″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 29° S. North of latitude 29° 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 9,785 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 174 million years.