Friday, April 03, 2009

A Young Pulsar Shows Its Hand

A Young Pulsar Shows Its Hand "A small, dense object only twelve miles in diameter is responsible for this beautiful X-ray nebula that spans 150 light years. At the center of this image made by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory is a very young and powerful pulsar, known as PSR B1509-58, or B1509 for short. The pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star which is spewing energy out into the space around it to create complex and intriguing structures, including one that resembles a large cosmic hand. "

324602main_b1509_665 1.jpg

1 comment:

Nancy said...

That is really cool! It does look like a hand.