Historic! NASAs IXPE captures image of Crab Nebula, the mysterious supernova remnant
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The Crab Nebula is also the result of a supernova documented in the year 1054, said NASA.The explosion left behind a dense object called the Crab Pulsar, about the diameter of the length of Manhattan with the mass of about two Suns.
Over the weekend, the United States space agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released an image of the Crab Nebula which it said was one of the well-known as well as mysterious astronomical objects in our night sky.
The bright cosmic object is 6,500 light-years away, in the Taurus constellation, the image of which was captured by using NASAs Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), which launched on December 9, 2021.
What makes this image historic?
There is a long history behind the recently released image as the sensors which had been directed at the Crab Nebula were first launched in a sounding rocket back in 1971. However, scientists back then would first receive scientific data on a strip chart recorder, a device that printed signals on paper. For this project, astronomer Martin Weisskopf and his colleagues began their analysis on launch day by measuring the distance between signals using a ruler and pencil.
It was not until a few decades later that the astronomer proposed developing a satellite with powerful instruments which would help them gather more detailed measurements of the Crab Nebula and other mysterious cosmic objects. This led to the creation of IXPE and now over five decades later scientists have a nuanced map of the Crab Nebulas magnetic field.
What makes science so beautiful and exciting is that for those few moments, youre seeing something that no one has ever seen before, said Weisskopf, in a statement, who is now an emeritus astronomer at NASA. The Crab Nebula is also the result of a supernova documented in the year 1054, said the space agency.
The explosion left behind a dense object called the Crab Pulsar, about the diameter of the length of Manhattan with the mass of about two Suns. The chaotic mess of gases, shock waves, magnetic fields and high-energy light and particles coming from the rotating pulsar is collectively called a pulsar wind nebula, NASA explained.
Monday, April 10, 2023 at 11:33 am