NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

Pulsar Wind in the Vela Nebula

The Vela pulsar was born [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] 10,000 years ago at the center of a supernova -- an exploding star [ http://imagine.gsfc…supernovae.html ]. In this Chandra Observatory x-ray image [ http://chandra.harv…index.html ], the pulsar still produces a glowing nebula at the heart of the expanding cloud of stellar debris. The pulsar [ http://www.jb.man.a…sounds.html ] itself is a neutron star [ http://heasarc.gsfc…neutron_star_structu re.html ], formed as the stellar core was compacted [ http://observe.ivv.…stellardeath_3a.html ] to nuclear densities. With a strong magnetic field, approximately the mass of the Sun, and a diameter of about 20 kilometers, the Vela pulsar rotates 11 times "a second". The sharp Chandra image aids astronomers [ http://xxx.lanl.gov…] in understanding such extreme systems as efficient high-voltage generators [ http://chandra.harv…] which drive structured winds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] of electrically charged particles. An x-ray bright nebula is created as the pulsar winds slam into the surrounding material. This view spans about 6 light-years across the central region of the much larger Vela supernova remnant [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].

CXC [ http://chandra.harv…], SAO [ http://sao-www.harv…], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/]

x-ray

supernova remnant

pulsar

vela

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Washington, D.C.

Sun

Vela

nebula

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap010719