Photo # 2 (Feb 2009)

CRAB PULSAR WIND NEBULA

At the end of the way is freedom. Till then, patience.
- Buddha

Credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / F. D. Seward,
W. H. Tucker, R. A. Fesen

The Crab Pulsar, a city-sized, magnetized neutron star spinning 30 times a second, lies at the center of this remarkable image from the orbiting Chandra Observatory. The deep x-ray image gives the first clear  of the convoluted boundaries of the Crab's pulsar wind nebula. Like a cosmic dynamo the pulsar powers the x-ray emission. The pulsar's energy accelerates charged particles, producing eerie, glowing x-ray jets directed away from the poles and an intense wind in the equatorial direction. Intriguing edges are created as the charged particles stream away, eventually losing energy as they interact with the pulsar's strong magnetic field. With more mass than the Sun and the density of an atomic nucleus, the spinning pulsar itself is the collapsed core of a massive star. The stellar core collapse resulted in a supernova explosion that was witnessed in the year 1054. This Chandra image spans just under 9 light-years at the Crab's estimated distance of 6,000 light-years.

What appears mysterious today, may be explained by science or by personal explorations tomorrow or in 2020. What is explained today, may be proven a mistaken belief tomorrow. Live not by reason but by your inner gnowing of the rightness or wrongness of your perceptions and actions.
                      - Daniel Benor, MD