CXC: A Crab Walks Through Time
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 3:52 pm
Crab Nebula: A Crab Walks Through Time
NASA | MSFC | SAO | Chandra X-ray Observatory | 2018 Mar 14
NASA | MSFC | SAO | Chandra X-ray Observatory | 2018 Mar 14
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory launch into space. The Crab Nebula was one of the first objects that Chandra examined with its sharp X-ray vision, and it has been a frequent target of the telescope ever since.
There are many reasons that the Crab Nebula is such a well-studied object. For example, it is one of a handful of cases where there is strong historical evidence for when the star exploded. Having this definitive timeline helps astronomers understand the details of the explosion and its aftermath. ...
The latest image of the Crab is a composite with X-rays from Chandra (blue and white), NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (purple) and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (pink). The extent of the X-ray image is smaller than the others because extremely energetic electrons emitting X-rays radiate away their energy more quickly than the lower-energy electrons emitting optical and infrared light. ...