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> The position of the Vela pulsar in the Vela SNR

The position of the Vela pulsar in the Vela SNR

author: Anglo-Australian Observatory/David Malin Images/Novapix

reference: a-snv11-00075

Image Size 300 DPI: 28 * 22 cm

About 120 centuries ago an inconspicuous star in the constellation of Vela brightened by about 100 million times to rival the Moon as the brightest object in the night sky. This photograph shows a portion of the north-western quadrant of an expanding nebulous shell, which now surrounds the site of the explosion. Near the centre of the nebula (arrowed) is the position of Vela pulsar, a rapidly-spinning neutron star only a few kilometres in diameter, the remnant of the star that exploded. This tiny object is too faint to be seen on this picture. It spins about 11 times a second and is among the faintest stars ever studied at optical wavelengths, a far cry from its brief glory as one of the brightest stars ever seen. The Vela supernova remnant is in the same direction as the diffuse Gum nebula, which appears as the biggest emission nebula in the sky.

Keywords for this photo:

AAO - ASTRONOMY - EVOLUTION - NEUTRON STAR - PULSAR - SIDING SPRING - SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE - STAR - SUPERNOVA - SUPERNOVA REMNANT - VELA -