Chandra Release - November 23, 2009

Visual Description: Crab Nebula

This combined X-ray, optical, infrared image of the supernova remnant and pulsar Crab Nebula shows a bright object in purple, pink, pale gold and bright blue, which resembles an irregular and subtly lobed shaped object. This central object is the pulsar, a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits bursts of energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation, including X-rays. Surrounding the pulsar is an inner part of the nebula that appears as a hazy, purple-pink structure. The larger nebula beyond that has a filamentary structure, with wispy tendrils of gas stretching out into the surrounding space. This composite image uses data from three of NASA's Great Observatories. The Chandra X-ray Observatory image is shown in blue, the Hubble Space Telescope optical images are in red and yellow, and the Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared image is in purple. The X-ray image is in the very center of the nebula.  It is much smaller than the other layers of light because ultra high-energy X-ray emitting electrons radiate away their energy more quickly than the lower-energy electrons emitting optical and infrared light. The neutron star, which has the mass equivalent to the sun crammed into a rapidly spinning ball of neutrons twelve miles across, is the bright white dot in the center of the image.