Tag Archive for 'Pulsar wind nebula'

At the center of this complex landscape of brilliant, colorful gas clouds is the supernova remnant 30 Doradus B. Image credit: NASA / CXC / Penn State University / Townsley et al. / STScI / HST / JPL / CalTech / SST / SAO / J. Schmidt / N. Wolk / K. Arcand.

At Least Two Supernova Explosions Created Supernova Remnant 30 Doradus B, Astronomers Say

Jan 5, 2024 by News Staff

30 Doradus B, also cataloged as NGC 2060, is found in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. At the center of this complex...

This image shows the Vela pulsar wind nebula: light blue represents X-ray polarization data from IXPE; pink and purple colors correspond to data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory; the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope contributed the stars in the background. Image credit: IXPE / NASA / MSFC / Fei Xie / CXC / SAO / STScI / Hubble / Chandra / Judy Schmidt / Kimberly Arcand / Nancy Wolk.

Polarized X-ray Detection Sheds New Light on Vela Pulsar Wind Nebula

Mar 8, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) — a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency — have observed...

Top left: a giant blue star, much more massive than our Sun, has consumed, through nuclear fusion at its center, all its hydrogen, helium, and heavier elements up to iron. It now has a small iron core (red dot) at its center. Unlike the earlier stages of fusion, the fusion of iron atoms absorbs, rather than releases, energy. The fusion-released energy that has held up the star against its own weight now is gone, and the star will quickly collapse, triggering a supernova explosion. Top right: the collapse has begun, producing a superdense neutron star with a strong magnetic field at its center (inset). The neutron star, though containing about 1.5 times the mass of the Sun, is only about the size of Manhattan. Bottom left: the supernova explosion has ejected a fast-moving shell of debris outward into interstellar space. At this stage, the debris shell is dense enough to shroud from view any radio waves coming from the region of the neutron star. Bottom right: As the shell of explosion debris expands over a few decades, it becomes less dense and eventually becomes thin enough that radio waves from inside can escape. This allowed observations by the VLA Sky Survey to detect bright radio emission created as the rapidly spinning neutron star’s powerful magnetic field sweeps through the surrounding space, accelerating charged particles. This phenomenon is called a pulsar wind nebula. Image credit: Melissa Weiss, NRAO / AUI / NSF.

Astronomers Spot Pulsar Wind Nebula in Distant Dwarf Galaxy

Jun 15, 2022 by News Staff

A pulsar wind nebula is created when the powerful magnetic field of a rapidly spinning neutron star accelerates surrounding charged particles to nearly...

SN 1987A: the panel on the left contains a 3D computer simulation, based on Chandra data, of the supernova debris from SN 1987A crashing into a surrounding ring of material; the artist’s illustration (right panel) depicts a so-called pulsar wind nebula, a web of particles and energy blown away from a pulsar, which is a rotating, highly magnetized neutron star. Image credit: NASA / Chandra / CXC / University di Palermo / E. Greco / INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo / Salvatore Orlando.

Astronomers Finally Find Neutron Star in Famous Supernova Remnant

Feb 26, 2021 by News Staff

Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A) was first observed on February 23, 1987 in a nearby dwarf galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, some 164,000 light-years away....

This composite image of the Crab Nebula was assembled by combining data from five telescopes spanning nearly the entire breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum: the VLA (radio) in red; Spitzer (infrared) in yellow; Hubble (visible) in green; XMM-Newton (ultraviolet) in blue; and Chandra (X-ray) in purple. Image credit: NASA / ESA / NRAO / AUI / NSF / G. Dubner, University of Buenos Aires.

Astronomers Create Stunning 3D Visualization of Crab Nebula

Jan 22, 2020 by News Staff

In 1054 CE, Chinese sky watchers witnessed the sudden appearance of a ‘new star’ in the heavens, which they recorded as six times brighter than Venus,...

In this composite image of Kes 75, high-energy X-rays observed by Chandra are colored blue and highlight the pulsar wind nebula surrounding the pulsar, while lower-energy X-rays appear purple and show the debris from the explosion. Image credit: X-rays – NASA / CXC / NCSU / S. Reynolds; optical – PanSTARRS.

Milky Way’s Youngest Pulsar Confirmed

Oct 23, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have confirmed that a supernova remnant called Kes 75 contains the youngest known pulsar in our Milky...

This image shows RX J0806.4-4123 with a disk of warm dust that produces an infrared signature as detected by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Nahks Tr’Ehnl, Pennsylvania State University.

Hubble Detects Unusual Infrared Emission from Nearby Neutron Star

Sep 18, 2018 by News Staff

An unusual infrared emission from the neutron star RX J0806.4-4123 detected by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope could indicate new features never before...