Astronomers have used data accumulated by five observatories in order to produce an extremely detailed image of the Crab Nebula.
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The telescopes used were: the Very Large Array, the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope, the XMM-Newton Observatory, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
The entire breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves observed by the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to the powerful X-ray glow as seen by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory were combines, a NASA statement revealed.
The findings also include the observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope's crisp visible-light view, and the infrared perspective of the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Located in the constellation of Taurus, at a distance of 6,500 light-years from Earth, the Crab Nebula is an outcome of a luminous supernova explosion which was observed and recorded by Chinese and other astronomers. It possesses a super-dense neutron star at its center, which rotates once at every 33 milliseconds and emits radio waves and light -- referred to as a 'pulsar'.
Pulsar is basically a neutron star or white dwarf star which emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation and is extremely magnetised.
"The nebula's intricate shape is caused by a complex interplay of the pulsar, a fast-moving wind of particles coming from the pulsar, and material originally ejected by the supernova explosion and by the star itself before the explosion," as quoted by a NASA statement.
All these latest observations made by the VLA, Hubble and Chandra were around the same time in November 2012.
A cohort of researchers led by Gloria Dubner of the Institute of Astronomy and Physics (IAFE), the National Council of Scientific Research (CONICET) and the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina closely examined the of the newly attained details in order to find out more about the new insights into the complex physics of the nebula.
The findings will be published in the Astrophysical Journal.
"Comparing these new images, made at different wavelengths, is providing us with a wealth of new detail about the Crab Nebula. Though the Crab has been studied extensively for years, we still have much to learn about it," Dubner said, NASA statement reported.
Have a look at Crab Nebula's composite view:
