Friday, November 22, 2024

This Nebula Blasts Particles Into Space. Also

Image Reference: See here

Headlines:

• NASA's Parker Solar Probe has entered the sun's corona, capturing unprecedented data on its intense heat and magnetic fields. ("Parker Solar Probe Dives into the Sun's Corona, Breaks Records.") • Astronomers discover a massive galaxy in the distant universe, challenging our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. ("Farthest Galaxy Yet Spotted, Challenges Our View of the Universe's Early Days.") • Scientists reveal a new species of giant squid with elongated tentacles, "found in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean." ("Giant Squid with Elongated Tentacles Discovered in Atlantic Ocean.") • Astronauts on the International Space Station observe rare... eerie 'Blood Moon' lunar eclipse. ("Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse Wows Astronauts on the International Space Station.") • Hubble Space Telescope captures stunning image of a 'smiling' black hole at the heart of a distant galaxy. ("Hubble Space Telescope Snaps Jaw-Dropping Image of 'Smiling' Black Hole.") • NASA's Europa Clipper mission is set to explore the icy moon of Jupiter... potentially uncovering signs of --- beneath its surface. ("NASA's Europa Clipper Mission Aims to Explore Jupiter's Icy Moon for Signs of ---.") • The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration releases new images of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy Messier 87. ("New Images of Black Hole at Galaxy's Center Revealed in Stunning Detail.")

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NASA's space telescopes tuned into an epic cosmic rock show, capturing new images of a space guitar that's billowing in the wake of an erratic neutron star as it releases a flame-like streak across the cosmos. Think Mad Max: Fury Road , but in space.

Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope, a group of astronomers captured the raging celestial object that's located around 2,700 light-years away from Earth. The new images helped astronomers identify what's shooting out of the pulsar—a fast-rotating neutron star—and how the bizarre structure has evolved over time. The findings are detailed in a study published in The Astrophysical Journal. 

Astronomers have dubbed it the Guitar Nebula, though whether it truly resembles an acoustic guitar is up to you to decide. Anyhoo, this object gets its musical shape from bubbles being blown through a steady wind of particles ejected by the pulsar as it moves through space at a ludicrous speed of 475 miles per second (765 kilometers per second). Chandra's X-ray observations also helped reveal a filament of energetic matter and antimatter particles that stretch for 2 light years long (or 12 trillion miles), blasting from the pulsar. As the particles spiral along the magnetic field lines around the pulsar, it creates the X-rays illuminated by Chandra's observations. The pulsar itself, created in the wake of a massive star collapsing on itself, can be seen as the bright white dot connected to the fiery filament.

There's a lot going on here, and it's mostly due to the extreme nature of pulsars. Combining fast rotation and high magnetic fields of pulsars leads to particle acceleration and high-energy radiation, which in turn creates matter and antimatter particles as electron and positron pairs (antimatter is made up of antiparticles with the opposite electric charge of their corresponding particles of matter).

By observing the Guitar Nebula, astronomers have a better understanding of how electrons and positrons travel through interstellar space, and one way they end up in between the stars.

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