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How new data is changing our understanding of space.
In the depths of space, an amazing structure resembling a human hand has been discovered. This object, known as MSH 15-52, is propagating from the pulsar PSR B1509-58. It was first observed by the Chandra X-ray observatory in 2001. However, a team of researchers recently combined Chandra observations with new data from NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), providing unique insights into the nebula, which strikingly resembles the shape of a human hand. The researchers ' findings were published this week in The Astrophysical Journal .
IXPE was launched into space in December 2021, shortly before the launch of the Webb Space telescope. This instrument uses X-rays to study some of the most compact objects in the universe, such as neutron stars and black holes. Last year, the telescope observed superheated plasma around black holes and found the closest black hole to Earth, which is about 1,600 light-years from our planet.
For the image, IXPE observed the nebula for 17 days. The telescope collected data to analyze the magnetic field that provides the main support for this structure. "Charged particles that produce X-rays move along the magnetic field, defining the nebula's basic shape, like bones in a human hand," said Roger Romani, an astrophysicist at Stanford University.
A special feature of the "hand" is a bright spot at its base, which stretches to the lower left side of the structure. This is an X-ray jet, and the bright spot indicates a region where many magnetic fields intersect and become entangled.
"Shortly after the discovery of X - rays by Wilhelm Roentgen on November 8, 1895, he created one of the most famous scientific images: an exposure of a colleague's hand showing bones with rings," Romani said.
It's great that NASA publishes an image of a scary hand-shaped structure for Halloween. Last year, the space Agency unveiled an image from the Webb Pillars of Creation telescope that made the Eagle Mist region look like a zombie's hand.
At the tips of the purple, finger-like structures of MSH 15-52 is a dark orange-brown cloud. This is the supernova remnant that created the pulsar. Thus, the cosmic arm of the nebula returns to where it started.
In the depths of space, an amazing structure resembling a human hand has been discovered. This object, known as MSH 15-52, is propagating from the pulsar PSR B1509-58. It was first observed by the Chandra X-ray observatory in 2001. However, a team of researchers recently combined Chandra observations with new data from NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), providing unique insights into the nebula, which strikingly resembles the shape of a human hand. The researchers ' findings were published this week in The Astrophysical Journal .
IXPE was launched into space in December 2021, shortly before the launch of the Webb Space telescope. This instrument uses X-rays to study some of the most compact objects in the universe, such as neutron stars and black holes. Last year, the telescope observed superheated plasma around black holes and found the closest black hole to Earth, which is about 1,600 light-years from our planet.
For the image, IXPE observed the nebula for 17 days. The telescope collected data to analyze the magnetic field that provides the main support for this structure. "Charged particles that produce X-rays move along the magnetic field, defining the nebula's basic shape, like bones in a human hand," said Roger Romani, an astrophysicist at Stanford University.
A special feature of the "hand" is a bright spot at its base, which stretches to the lower left side of the structure. This is an X-ray jet, and the bright spot indicates a region where many magnetic fields intersect and become entangled.
"Shortly after the discovery of X - rays by Wilhelm Roentgen on November 8, 1895, he created one of the most famous scientific images: an exposure of a colleague's hand showing bones with rings," Romani said.
It's great that NASA publishes an image of a scary hand-shaped structure for Halloween. Last year, the space Agency unveiled an image from the Webb Pillars of Creation telescope that made the Eagle Mist region look like a zombie's hand.
At the tips of the purple, finger-like structures of MSH 15-52 is a dark orange-brown cloud. This is the supernova remnant that created the pulsar. Thus, the cosmic arm of the nebula returns to where it started.
