Beacon

	Beacon
	<a href="/wiki/File:Beacon.png" class="image" title="Beacon image"><img alt="Beacon image" src="/w/images/b/b3/Beacon.png" width="97" height="97" /></a>
	<a href="/wiki/File:Beacon.png" class="image" title="Beacon image"><img alt="Beacon image" src="/w/images/b/b3/Beacon.png" width="97" height="97" /></a>
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Pattern type	Oscillator
Oscillator type	Babbling brook
Family	Beacon
Number of cells	6
Bounding box	4×4
Frequency class	8.8
Period	2
Mod	2
Heat	2
Volatility	0.25
Strict volatility	0.25
Rotor type	Diagonal on-off
Discovered by	John Conway
Year of discovery	1970
Rules
Outer-totalistic rules	B3/S23 – B35678/S235678
Important rules	Conway Life, HighLife
# of rules	28 = 256
Isotropic rules	B3a/S2ae3a – B2-an34-w5678/S01234-q5678
Glider synthesis
Fewest gliders	3
Catagolue-generated RLE	beacon_synth.rle
Uploaded synthesis RLE	beacon_synth.rle
Pattern files
Plaintext	beacon.cells
RLE	beacon.rle
Identifiers
apgcode	xp2_318c
Pentadecathlon ID	6P2.2

The beacon is a common oscillator, composed of two diagonally touching blocks. It was found by John Conway in March 1970.

The beacon is the simplest on-off. Its rotor, known as diagonal on-off, can be supported by several different stators: the two next-smallest are seen in eater plug, Mangled 1 beacon and 21P2.

A beacon in the right phase can trigger the boat-bit reaction.

It can, in some sense, be considered a billiard table.

Commonness

The beacon is the third most common oscillator in Achim Flammenkamp's census (after the blinker and toad).^[1] It is also the thirteenth most common object on Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue.^[2]

tlife and its related rules have the transition 4q, making beacon an 8-cell still life systematically named "block-tie".

↑ Achim Flammenkamp (September 7, 2004). "Most seen natural occurring ash objects in Game of Life". Retrieved on January 15, 2009.
↑ Adam P. Goucher. "Statistics". Catagolue. Retrieved on June 24, 2016.