Chandra Reveals a Compact Nebula Created by a Shooting Neutron Star

Chandra_201_1024

chandra_201 June 6th, 2000

Credit: NASA/PSU/G.Pavlov et al.

Chandra's bizarre image of the Vela pulsar (bright spot in the center) shows the details of a compact nebula that resembles a gigantic cosmic crossbow. This structure is created by a rapidly rotating neutron star, or pulsar that spins out rings and jets of high-energy particles while shooting through space. As indicated by the green arrow, the jets point in the same direction as the motion of the pulsar. The swept back appearance of the nebula is due to the motion of the pulsar through the supernova remnant.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2000/vela/

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

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

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Vela Pulsar

Distance

Universescale1
959 light years
Chandra_201_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 8h 35m 20.5s
DEC = -45° 10’ 49.1”
Orientation
North is 4.7° CW
Field of View
3.4 x 3.1 arcminutes
Constellation
Vela

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Orange Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 826.7 pm
Spectrum_xray1
Orange
Chandra_201_1280
×
ID
201
Subject Category
Subject Name
Vela Pulsar
Credits
NASA/PSU/G.Pavlov et al.
Release Date
2000-06-06
Lightyears
959
Redshift
959
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2000/vela/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra
Instrument
ACIS
Color Assignment
Orange
Band
X-ray
Bandpass
X-ray
Central Wavelength
0.8267
Start Time
2000-04-30T04:54:27
Integration Time
10577
Dataset ID
128
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
128.8354228, -45.1803109
Reference Dimension
2400.0, 2189.0
Reference Pixel
1201.0, 1095.5
Scale
2.34362e-05, 2.3436219e-05
Rotation
-4.70
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
WCS retrieved using CXCs PinpointWCS
Creator (Curator)
Chandra X-ray Observatory
URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu
Name
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Email
cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
Telephone
617.496.7941
Address
60 Garden St.
City
Cambridge
State/Province
MA
Postal Code
02138
Country
USA
Rights
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Publisher
Chandra X-ray Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
vela_xray.tif
Metadata Date
2011-02-23
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
959 light years

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