Credit: X-ray & Optical: NASA/CXC/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al

In this composite image, X-rays from Chandra and XMM-Newton (blue) have been combined with optical data from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (red and green.) A newly-discovered pulsar, known as SXP 1062, is the bright white source located on the right-hand side of the image in the middle of the diffuse blue emission. The X-ray data reveal that SXP 1062 is rotating unusually slowly -- about once every 18 minutes. The optical data on the left side of the image show spectacular regions of gas and dust where stars are forming. This would be the first definite time a pulsar, a spinning, ultra-dense star, has been found in a supernova remnant in the SMC, a small satellite galaxy to the Milky Way.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2011/sxp1062/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html