The High Energy Crab Nebula
Explanation:
This is the mess that is left when a star explodes. The
Crab Nebula
is so energetic that it glows in
every kind of light known.
Shown above are images of the
Crab Nebula from visible light to the
X-ray band.
NUV stands for "near
ultraviolet" light, FUV means "far
ultraviolet" light, and VIS means visible light. In the center of the
Crab Nebula lies the powerful
Crab pulsar - a spinning
neutron star
with mass comparable to our
Sun but with the diameter of only a
small town.
The pulsar expels particles and radiation in a beam that sweeps past the
Earth 30 times a second. The
supernova that created the
Crab Nebula was seen by
ancient
Chinese astronomers and possibly even the
Anasazi Indians
-- in 1054 AD, perhaps glowing for a week as bright as the
full moon. The Crab
still presents mysteries today
as the total mass of the nebula and pulsar appears much less than the mass of the
original pre-supernova star!
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
