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Collection:
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NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Collection
Collection
NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Collection
Collection
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Title:
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The Spirit of Halloween Lives On as a Dead Star Creates Celestial Havoc
Title
The Spirit of Halloween Lives On as a Dead Star Creates Celestial Havoc
Title
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Description:
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According to the folklore of the Celts and other ancient cultures, Halloween marked the midpoint between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice on the astronomical calendar, a spooky night when spirits of the dead spread havoc upon their return to Earth.
Nowadays, Halloween is primarily a time for children to dress in costume and demand treats, but the original spirit of Halloween lives on in the sky in the guise of the Crab Nebula.
A star's spectacular death in the constellation Taurus was observed on Earth as the supernova of 1054 A.D. Now, almost a thousand years later, a superdense neutron star left behind by the stellar death is spewing out a blizzard of extremely high-energy particles into the expanding debris field known as the Crab Nebula.
This composite image uses data from three of NASA's Great Observatories. The Chandra X-ray image is shown in light blue, the Hubble Space Telescope optical images are in green and dark blue, and the Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared image is in red. The size of the X-ray image is smaller than the others because ultrahigh-energy X-ray emitting electrons radiate away their energy more quickly than the lower-energy electrons emitting optical and infrared light. The neutron star, which has the mass equivalent to the sun crammed into a rapidly spinning ball of neutrons twelve miles across, is the bright white dot in the center of the image.
Description
According to the folklore of the Celts and other ancient cultures, Halloween marked the midpoint between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice on the astronomical calendar, a spooky night when spirits of the dead spread havoc upon their return to Earth.
Nowadays, Halloween is primarily a time for children to dress in costume and demand treats, but the original spirit of Halloween lives on in the sky in the guise of the Crab Nebula.
A star's spectacular death in the constellation Taurus was observed on Earth as the supernova of 1054 A.D. Now, almost a thousand years later, a superdense neutron star left behind by the stellar death is spewing out a blizzard of extremely high-energy particles into the expanding debris field known as the Crab Nebula.
This composite image uses data from three of NASA's Great Observatories. The Chandra X-ray image is shown in light blue, the Hubble Space Telescope optical images are in green and dark blue, and the Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared image is in red. The size of the X-ray image is smaller than the others because ultrahigh-energy X-ray emitting electrons radiate away their energy more quickly than the lower-energy electrons emitting optical and infrared light. The neutron star, which has the mass equivalent to the sun crammed into a rapidly spinning ball of neutrons twelve miles across, is the bright white dot in the center of the image.
Description
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Release Date:
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2006/10/25
Release_Date
2006/10/25
Release Date
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Release Credit:
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X-ray: NASA/CXC/J.Hester (ASU); Optical: NASA/ESA/J.Hester & A.Loll (ASU); Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R.G ehrz (Univ. Minn.)
Release_Credit
X-ray: NASA/CXC/J.Hester (ASU); Optical: NASA/ESA/J.Hester & A.Loll (ASU); Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R.G ehrz (Univ. Minn.)
Release Credit
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Image Credit:
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NASA/JPL-Caltech/R.G ehrz (Univ. Minn.)
Image_Credit
NASA/JPL-Caltech/R.G ehrz (Univ. Minn.)
Image Credit
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Image Credit:
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X-ray: NASA/CXC/J.Hester (ASU); Optical: NASA/ESA/J.Hester & A.Loll (ASU); Infrared:
Image_Credit
X-ray: NASA/CXC/J.Hester (ASU); Optical: NASA/ESA/J.Hester & A.Loll (ASU); Infrared:
Image Credit
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Object name:
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Crab Nebula
Object_name
Crab Nebula
Object name
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Object name:
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M1
Object_name
M1
Object name
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Object name:
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Messier 1
Object_name
Messier 1
Object name
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Object name:
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NGC 1952
Object_name
NGC 1952
Object name
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Object type:
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Supernova Remnant
Object_type
Supernova Remnant
Object type
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Position (J2000):
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*RA: *05h34m31.60s *Dec: *22d00m56.40s
Position_(J2000)
*RA: *05h34m31.60s *Dec: *22d00m56.40s
Position (J2000)
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Distance:
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6300 light-years (1930 parsecs)
Distance
6300 light-years (1930 parsecs)
Distance
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Constellation:
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Taurus
Constellation
Taurus
Constellation
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Wavelength:
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Infrared: Red
Wavelength
Infrared: Red
Wavelength
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Wavelength:
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X-ray: Blue-Purple; Optical: Green
Wavelength
X-ray: Blue-Purple; Optical: Green
Wavelength
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Image scale:
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Image is 7.8 arcmin per side
Image_scale
Image is 7.8 arcmin per side
Image scale
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Instrument:
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IRAC MIPS
Instrument
IRAC MIPS
Instrument
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Instrument:
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Chandra and Hubble
Instrument
Chandra and Hubble
Instrument
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Orientation:
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North is up
Orientation
North is up
Orientation
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Magnitude:
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8.4
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facet_what:
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Spitzer Space Telescope
facet_what
Spitzer Space Telescope
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Earth
facet_what
Earth
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Sun
facet_what
Sun
facet_what
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facet_what:
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MIPS
facet_what
MIPS
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Taurus
facet_what
Taurus
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Spirit
facet_what
Spirit
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
facet_what
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
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facet_where:
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Washington, D.C.
facet_where
Washington, D.C.
facet_where
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facet_when:
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1054
facet_when
1054
facet_when
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facet_when_year:
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1054
facet_when_year
1054
facet_when_year
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Image #:
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sig06-028
Image_#
sig06-028
Image #
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original url:
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original_url
original url
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UID:
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SPD-SPITZ-sig06-028
UID
SPD-SPITZ-sig06-028
UID
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