A Young Pulsar Shows Its Hand
Friday, April 3, 2009 - 16:35
in Astronomy & Space
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. This image is being unveiled for the first time as part of the "Around the World in 80 Telescopes" webcast, a program of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.