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Credit & Copyright: Martin Fiedler
Explanation:
It somehow survived an explosion that would surely have destroyed our Sun.
Now it is spins 30 times a second and is famous for the its rapid flashes.
It is the
Crab Pulsar, the rotating
neutron star remnant of the supernova that created the
Crab Nebula.
A careful eye can spot the pulsar flashes in the
featured time-lapse video,
just above the image center.
The video was created by adding together images taken only when the pulsar was flashing,
as well as co-added images from other relative times.
The Crab Pulsar flashes may have been
first noted
by an unknown woman attending a
public observing night
at the University of Chicago in 1957 -- but who was not believed.
The progenitor supernova explosion was seen by many in the year 1054 AD.
The expanding Crab Nebula remains a
picturesque
expanding
gas cloud that
glows across the
electromagnetic spectrum.
The pulsar is now thought to have survived the
supernova explosion because it is composed of extremely-dense
quantum-degenerate matter.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: pulsar - Crab Nebula
Publications with words: pulsar - Crab Nebula
See also: