A dead star
lives on in the form of the Crab
nebula 952 years after its explosive demise.
The stellar
heart of the Crab nebula exploded in a supernova centuries ago, and was
observed on Earth in 1054 A.D. But that doesn’t stop the neutron
star at the nebula’s center from spewing forth a torrent of high-energy
particles in the resulting debris field.
The Crab
nebula sits about 6,000 light-years from Earth towards the constellation Taurus
[image].
One light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about six trillion
miles (10 trillion kilometers).
This view
of the nebula is actually the result of several space-based platforms,
including the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope
and Spitzer Space Telescope.
-- SPACE.com Staff
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ASU/J.Hester
et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/ASU/J.Hester & A.Loll; Infrared:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. Minn./R.Gehrz.
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