NASA | MSFC | SAO | Chandra X-ray Observatory | 2018 Oct 17
Scientists have confirmed the identity of the youngest known pulsar in the Milky Way galaxy using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This result could provide astronomers new information about how some stars end their lives. ...
New data from Chandra are helping address some of those questions. A team of astronomers has confirmed that the supernova remnant Kes 75, located about 19,000 light years from Earth, contains the youngest known pulsar in the Milky Way galaxy.
The rapid rotation and strong magnetic field of the pulsar have generated a wind of energetic matter and antimatter particles that flow away from the pulsar at near the speed of light . This pulsar wind has created a large, magnetized bubble of high-energy particles called a pulsar wind nebula, seen as the blue region surrounding the pulsar.
In this composite image of Kes 75, high-energy X-rays observed by Chandra are colored blue and highlight the pulsar wind nebula surrounding the pulsar, while lower-energy X-rays appear purple and show the debris from the explosion. A Sloan Digital Sky Survey optical image reveals stars in the field. ...
Expansion and Brightness Changes in the Pulsar-wind Nebula in the Composite
Supernova Remnant Kes 75 ~ Stephen P. Reynolds, Kazimierz J. Borkowski, Peter H. Gwynne
- Astrophysical Journal 856(2):133 (2018 Apr 01) DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aab3d3
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1803.09128 > 24 Mar 2018