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> The Crab pulsar

The Crab pulsar

author: Nasa/Novapix

reference: a-snv11-00525

Image Size 300 DPI: 13 * 13 cm

At the center of the Crab Nebula lies the Crab Pulsar " the collapsed core of the exploded star. The Crab Pulsar is a rapidly rotating neutron star " an object only about six miles across, but containing more mass than our Sun. As it rotates at a rate of 30 times per second the Crab Pulsar's powerful magnetic field sweeps around, accelerating particles, and whipping them out into the nebula at speeds close to that of light. The picture shows a Hubble Space Telescope image of the inner parts of the Crab. The pulsar itself is visible as the left of the pair of stars near the center of the frame. Surrounding the pulsar is a complex of sharp knots and wisp-like features. The Hubble Space Telescope photo was taken Nov. 5, 1995 by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 at a wavelength of around 550 nanometers, in the middle of the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Keywords for this photo:

1995 - ASTRONOMY - CRAB - EVOLUTION - FALSE COLOR - HST - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - M1 - NEUTRON STAR - NGC 1952 - PULSAR - STAR - SUPERNOVA - SUPERNOVA REMNANT - TAURUS -