This four-panel display shows radio, optical, X-ray and composite images of the same region of space: the supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula known colloquially as the “Hand of God.” Located 17,000 light-years away and spanning an impressive 150 light-years across, it’s one of the youngest and yet largest supernova remnants ever found. (Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Hong Kong/S. Zhang et al.; Radio: ATNF/CSIRO/ATCA; H-alpha: UK STFC/Royal Observatory Edinburgh; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk)
In our own Milky Way, a recently deceased star creates a ghostly, hand-like shape in X-rays some 150 light-years wide. Here’s how it’s made.
A remarkable sight has been spotted in X-ray light: a human-like hand.
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This 2009-era image, made with Chandra X-ray data from 2004 through 2008, showcases the structure of the pulsar wind nebula, MSH 15–52, along with the X-ray emissions of a different energy found near the top of the fingertips: the supernova remnant RCW 89. Subsequent studies, especially in other wavelengths of light, have uncovered the structural link between these two seemingly disparate components of the nebula. (Credit: NASA/CXC/Stanford Univ./R. Romani et al.)
Above, this nebula was first revealed by NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory.
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This artist’s concept image of the Chandra X-ray Observatory is now 30 years old. Launched in 1999, Chandra remains humanity’s most powerful, highest-resolution X-ray observatory, and one of the original four NASA great observatories along with Hubble, Spitzer, and Compton. It continues to reveal the X-ray universe to us, and is an at-risk mission for decommissioning with looming NASA science budget cuts. (Credit: NASA/MSFC)
Although the “Hand of God” nebula MSH 15–52, is most spectacularly imaged by Chandra (in gold), infrared data from NASA’s WISE (in all other colors) showcases the gas, dust, and star-forming nebulous material located nearby. This star-forming complex, overall, is thousands of light-years across, dwarfing the impressive pulsar wind nebula, which itself is “only” 150 light-years or so wide. (Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO (X-Ray); NASA/JPL-Caltech (Infrared))
This side-by-side set of images shows a series of views of the Crab Pulsar and its surrounding environment taken by NASA’s Chandra X-ray telescope (left) and NASA’s Hubble space telescope (right) over the 6-month period from November 2000 to April 2001. Formed from a star that went supernova in 1054, the Crab pulsar is one of the youngest known neutron stars, and the ringed feature around the pulsar was only discovered due to Chandra’s revolutionary X-ray capabilities. A similar pulsar, PSR B1509–58, likely displays similar phenomena, but is too far away to observe with the same resolution as the Crab Pulsar. (Credits: NASA/CXC/ASU/J.Hester et al.; NASA/HST/ASU/J.Hester et al.; stevebd1/YouTube)
Regular radio pulses, emitted every 150 milliseconds, indicate a pulsar.
