A New Look at the Crab Nebula

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nrao_Gallery_nrao17df04b  

Credit: G. Dubner (IAFE, CONICET-University of Buenos Aires) et al.; NRAO/AUI/NSF; A. Loll et al.; T. Temim et al.; F. Seward et al.; Chandra/CXC; Spitzer/JPL-Caltech; XMM-Newton/ESA; and Hubble/STScI

Astronomers produced this dramatic new, highly-detailed image of the Crab Nebula by combining data from telescopes spanning nearly the entire breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum. At its center is a superdense neutron star, rotating once every 33 milliseconds, shooting out rotating lighthouse-like beams of radio waves and light a pulsar. The nebulas intricate shape is caused by a complex interplay of the pulsar, a fast-moving wind of particles coming from the pulsar, and material originally ejected by the supernova explosion and by the star itself before the explosion. This image combines data from five different telescopes: The VLA (radio) in red; Spitzer Space Telescope (infrared) in yellow; Hubble Space Telescope (visible) in green; XMM-Newton (ultraviolet) in blue; and Chandra X-Ray Observatory (X-ray) in purple.

Provider: National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Image Source: https://public.nrao.edu/?post_type=release=6457

Curator: NRAO/AUI/NSF, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

Image Details

Image Type
Object Name
Crab Nebula
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Supernova Remnant

Distance

Universescale1
6,523 light years
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Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 5h 34m 31.9s
DEC = 22° 0’ 52.2”
Orientation
North is 0.3° CCW
Field of View
8.8 x 8.8 arcminutes
Constellation
Taurus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red VLA Radio -
Yellow Spitzer Infrared -
Green Hubble Optical -
Blue XMN-Newton Ultraviolet -
Purple Chandra X-ray -
Nrao_gallery_nrao17df04b_1280
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ID
Gallery_nrao17df04b
Subject Category
B.4.1.4  
Subject Name
Crab Nebula
Credits
G. Dubner (IAFE, CONICET-University of Buenos Aires) et al.; NRAO/AUI/NSF; A. Loll et al.; T. Temim et al.; F. Seward et al.; Chandra/CXC; Spitzer/JPL-Caltech; XMM-Newton/ESA; and Hubble/STScI
Release Date
Lightyears
6,523
Redshift
6,523
Reference Url
https://public.nrao.edu/?post_type=release=6457
Type
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
VLA, Spitzer, Hubble, XMN-Newton, Chandra
Instrument
Color Assignment
Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple
Band
Radio, Infrared, Optical, Ultraviolet, X-ray
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
2000.0
Reference Value
83.63308300000, 22.01450000000
Reference Dimension
5290, 5290
Reference Pixel
2651.40854761364, 2609.00004665472
Scale
-0.00002762230, 0.00002762230
Rotation
0.29036478519
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
World Coordinate System resolved using PinpointWCS 0.9.2 revision 218+ by the Chandra X-ray Center
Creator (Curator)
NRAO/AUI/NSF
URL
https://public.nrao.edu
Name
NRAO/AUI/NSF
Email
outreach@nrao.edu
Telephone
Address
520 Edgemont Road
City
Charlottesville
State/Province
Virginia
Publisher
NRAO/AUI/NSF
Publisher ID
nrao
Resource ID
Resource URL
/image/nrao/Gallery_nrao17df04b
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2018-05-23T15:35:48+00:00
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
6,523 light years

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