Crab Nebula

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Object Details

Description

The Crab Nebula shows the remains of an exploded star located about 6,500 light years from Earth. The powerhouse “engine” energizing the Crab system is a pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star, shooting out pulses of radiation 30 times a second. X-ray information from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory was used to create a three-dimensional representation of the Crab. The X-ray structure shows the pulsar and a ringed disk of energized material, with jets of particles that fire off from opposite ends of the energetic pulsar.

Notes

Description Credit: NASA/STScI/F.Summers, et al.; NASA/Caltech /IPAC/R.Hurt; NASA/CXC/SAO/N.Wolk, et al.; NASA/CXC/SAO/A.Jubett et al.

Data Source

Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Metadata Usage

CC0

Record ID

dpo_3d_200117