Pulsar
PSR J2338+4818
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.119 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 95.255 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 | Andromeda |
| Period | 118.7 ms |
| Period derivative | 2.0×10⁻¹⁸ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 953 million years |
| Magnetic field | 1.6×10¹⁰ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 4.7×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 35.3 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 2,013 pc (6.6 thousand ly) |
| Companion | neutron star (estimated), ~1.27 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 95.255 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.0018 |
| Discovery | 2021 · fast_crafts |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 23h 38m 06.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | +48° 18′ 32″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 42° S. North of latitude 42° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in September, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 6,566 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 116 million years.