Chandra Release - July 13, 2011

Visual Description: PSR J0357+3205

The image features an X-ray and optical image of the pulsar PSR J0357+3205, which is dominated by blue and black colors with a dusting of gold dots across the field of view.  In the center of the image, there is a fuzzy blue worm-like shape tilted toward the lower left with some smaller patches of blue fuzz below it.  This composite image shows Chandra X-ray Observatory data in blue and Digitized Sky Survey optical data in yellow. The position of the pulsar is at the upper right end of the tail, around 1 o’clock. Two bright sources lying near the lower left end of the tail are both thought to be unrelated background objects located outside our galaxy.   Astronomers calculate that the pulsar lies about 1,600 light years from Earth and is about half a million years old, which makes it roughly middle-aged for this type of object.  If the tail is at the same distance as the pulsar then it stretches for 4.2 light-years in length.