Chandra Release - June 30, 2003

Visual Description: Vela Pulsar Jet

This Chandra X-ray Observatory image features the Vela Pulsar, which is one of the brightest pulsars in the sky at X-ray energies.  The image consists of four panels, each showing a different time stamped observation of the Vela Pulsar.  The dominant colors in the image are shades of bright yellow and orange set amidst a solid black backdrop, which create an eerie and mysterious atmosphere.   The key structures of the Vela Pulsar can be seen clearly in the image, including its disk-shaped structure, and its pulsar wind nebula (PWN) that surrounds it.   The Chandra images in this montage essentially show the erratic variability of a jet of high energy particles that is associated with the Vela pulsar, a rotating neutron star. These images are part of a series of 13 images made over a period of two and a half years that has been used to make a time-lapse video of the motion of the jet.  Much like an untended firehose, the jet bends and whips about spectacularly at half the speed of light. Bright blobs move in the jet at similar speeds.