A supernova remnant rises like an ethereal blue hand across the center of the image. This blue hand-shaped nebula intersects a spotty red oval with dots of light. These both represent X-ray views of the nebula, with the highest energy X-rays shown in blue, and the lower energy in red.
Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/P.Slane, et al.
Published: April 3, 2009

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.

More information: https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/b1509/

ENLARGE

Explore the Universe

Explore the Universe

Related News