Astronomers recorded an unusual phenomenon: the Guitar Nebula
November 22, 2024
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Astronomers have discovered a unique cosmic object called the Guitar Nebula, a long string of energetic matter and antimatter particles ejected from pulsar PSR B2224+65. This object was
Astronomers have discovered a unique cosmic object called the Guitar Nebula, a long string of energetic matter and antimatter particles ejected from pulsar PSR B2224+65. This object was discovered using the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope.
Guitar Nebula gets its name from its resemblance to a musical instrument. Its shape is formed by the particles ejected by the pulsar. A rapidly rotating pulsar, a neutron star left over from the collapse of a massive star, ejects particles and emits X-rays.
Astronomers explain that the combination of pulsars’ rapid rotation and strong magnetic fields leads to particle acceleration and high-energy radiation that creates matter and antimatter particles. In this process, energy turns into mass; This is the exact opposite of the process described in Albert Einstein’s E=mc equation.2.
Particles spiraling along magnetic field lines around the pulsar create the X-rays detected by Chandra. As the pulsar and its surrounding nebula of energetic particles fly through space, they collide with regions of denser gas, causing the most energetic particles to escape the nebula and fly to the right of the pulsar, creating an X-ray filament.
The new video, based on data from Chandra and Hubble observations, shows the pulsar and filament flying towards the upper left corner of the image. The video shows the movement of the pulsar and smaller structures around it. Data obtained in 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2021 allowed astronomers to study changes in the Guitar Nebula and X-ray filaments.
Examination of these data showed that the changes that control the formation of bubbles in the hydrogen nebula also control changes in the number of particles escaping from the right side of the pulsar, causing the X-ray filament to lighten and fade in color.
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The structure of the filament provides valuable information about how electrons and positrons move in the interstellar medium and how this process directs electrons and positrons into the interstellar medium. A 2022 paper describing these results was published at: Astrophysical Journal .
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