Crab Nebula: The remnant of a
supernova located 6000 light years from Earth in the
constellation Taurus.
Caption: This collage is composed of
Chandra images made over a span of several months (ordered left
to right, except for the close-up). They provide a dramatic look
at the activity generated by the pulsar (white dot near the
center of the images) in the Crab Nebula. The inner X-ray ring
is thought to be a shock wave that marks the boundary between
the surrounding nebula and the flow of matter and antimatter
particles from the pulsar. Energetic shocked particles move
outward to brighten the outer ring and produce an extended X-ray
glow. The jets perpendicular to the ring are due to matter and
antimatter particles spewing out from the poles of the
pulsar.
Scale: Close up image is 0.8 arcmin,
other 7 images are 1.6 arcmin.
Chandra X-ray Observatory ACIS
Image
CXC operated for
NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory
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