Big Hand for a Little Star

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 April 6, 2009

'Fingers' of hot gas around a dead star are passing energy to a distant gas cloud in this X-ray image from the orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The entire complex is powered by a neutron star -- the corpse of an exploded star. The neutron star, known by its catalog number, PSR B1509-58, is only a few miles in diameter, but several times as massive as the Sun. The neutron star is embedded in the bright blue knot at center, but is far too small to see. It spins rapidly and generates a titanic magnetic field. These processes energize wisps of gas, forming the hand-like structure around the gas. Some of the energy flows into the more-distant gas cloud, making it glow in X-rays as well. In this image, blue represents the most powerful X-rays, while red and orange are less powerful. The structure is about 17,000 light-years away, and spans 150 light-years. [NASA/CXC/SAO/P.Slane, et al.]