Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Stanford Univ./M. de Vries et al.; Optical: (Hubble) NASA/ESA/STScI and (Palomar) Hale Telescope/Palomar/CalTech; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare
Guitar Pyrotechnics
When massive stars run out of thermonuclear fuel, they collapse and explode. The catastrophic collapse (happening in a matter of seconds) produces a tiny, incredibly dense, rapidly spinning neutron star at the center of the dying star. Collapsing outer layers of the star then fall on the surface of the new neutron star and bounce off, creating a strong shock that helps destroy the star in a supernova explosion. If this explosion is not equally powerful in all directions, then the the neutron star can get a powerful kick in one direction, propelling it through the galaxy at enormous speeds. As it careers through the galaxy, its motion can produce a strong bow shock, like the wake of a speedboat on a lake. A particularly interesting wake is the unusual "Guitar Nebula" produced by the spinning neutron star pulsar known as B2224+65 as it speeds through the Milky Way at millions of miles per hour. The image above shows a composite Chandra X-ray Observatory X-ray image in red and white, and an optical image (from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Palomar Observatory's 200-inch Hale telescope) in blue. The guitar nebula, which indeed has a shape like an acoustic guitar, is outlined to help guide the eye. The pulsar is the bright white and red point source near the left of the image near the head of the guitar. Now a new movie using Chandra X-ray images shows the neutron star speeding through space (towards the upper right of the image) and also shows changes to the energetic, one-sided jet blasting from the neutron star nearly perpendicular to the neutron star's motion moving along with the pulsar.
Analysis of these data indicate that the shape of guitar is produced by bubbles of matter and energy ejected in the opposite direction to the pulsar's motion, and variations in the ejection of these bubbles are also related to changes in the jet of particles to the right of the pulsar.
Published: December 2, 2024
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Page Author: Dr. Michael F. Corcoran
Last modified Monday, 09-Dec-2024 12:56:21 EST