Hand-Shaped Nebula Carved By Pulsar In Amazing X-Ray And Radio Telescope View

Space.com

The MSH 15-52 nebula has been captured by the Australia Telescope Compact Array and Chandra’s X-ray Telescope in this composite imagery.   Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart

Transcript

00:00Visit Chandra's Beautiful Universe

00:05MSH 1552

00:10In 2009, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory released a captivating image,

00:15a pulsar and its surrounding nebula, that is shaped like a hand.

00:20Since then, astronomers have used Chandra and other telescopes

00:24to continue to observe this object.

00:27Now, new radio data from the Australia Telescope Compact Array

00:31has been combined with Chandra's X-ray data

00:34to provide a fresh view of this exploded star and its environment

00:38and help understand its peculiar properties.

00:42At the center of this new image lies the pulsar B1509-58,

00:47a rapidly spinning neutron star that is only about 12 miles in diameter.

00:52This tiny object is responsible for producing an intricate nebula,

00:56called MSH 1552, that spans over 150 light-years, or about 900 trillion miles.

01:05The nebula, which is produced by energetic particles,

01:09resembles a human hand with a palm and extended fingers

01:12pointing to the upper right in X-rays.

01:15The collapse of a massive star created the pulsar

01:18when much of the star crashed inward once it burned through its sustainable nuclear fuel.

01:23An ensuing explosion sent the star's outer layers outward into space as a supernova.

01:30The pulsar spins around almost seven times every second

01:34and has a strong magnetic field about 15 trillion times stronger than the Earth's.

01:40The rapid rotation and strong magnetic fields make B1509-58 one of the most powerful electromagnetic generators in the galaxy,

01:49enabling it to drive an energetic wind of electrons and other particles away from the pulsar, creating the nebula.

01:57This new composite image from Chandra and radio data, plus an optical image,

02:02reveals complex filaments that are aligned with the directions of the nebula's magnetic field,

02:07shown by straight lines in this image.

02:10These filaments could result from the collision of the pulsar's particle wind with the supernova's debris.

02:16By comparing the radio and X-ray data, researchers identified key differences between the sources of the two types of light.

02:25This helps reveal many unique features, not found in other young sources.

02:30There are, however, still many open questions regarding the formation and evolution of these structures.

02:37Further simulation works are needed to provide better understanding of the complex interplay between the pulsar wind and the supernova ejecta.

02:46The Milky Way to the

03:06The Milky Way to the

03:09Code of Air

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