New astrometric analysis of four WFPC2 images of the isolated neutron star RX J185635-3754 show that its distance is 117 \pm 12 pc , nearly double the originally published distance .
At the revised distance , the star ’ s age is 5 \times 10 ^ { 5 } years , its space velocity is about 185 km s ^ { -1 } , and its radiation radius inferred from thermal emission is R _ { \infty } \sim 15 km , in the range of many equations of state both with and without exotic matter .
These measurements remove observational support for an extremely soft equation of state .
The star ’ s birthplace is still likely to be in the Upper Sco association , but a connection with \zeta Oph is now unlikely .