Chandra Release - April 3, 2009

Visual Description: PSR B1509-58

This object is named PSR B1509-58, which is a pulsar and its surrounding nebula as observed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory.  The nebula appears to be shaped like a left hand with three fingers slightly spread and a thumb, positioned on a dark sky.  The “palm” area of the hand is colored blue with a bright white elongated center, and the fingers are mostly green-blue.   There looks to be little puffs of bright red and orange flame coming out of the finger tips. The image overall is texturized and there is an elongated "wrist" hanging to the lower left. At the center of this image in the white area is a very young and powerful pulsar. The pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star which is spewing energy out into the space around it to create complex and intriguing structures, including one that resembles a large cosmic hand. In this image, the lowest energy X-rays that Chandra detects are colored red, the medium range is green, and the most energetic ones are blue.