“Hand of God” Nebula Reveals Secrets of Exploded Star in New Detail
By Rachel Kim, World-Today-News.com – November 8, 2023
A cosmic marvel first captured by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2009 – a nebula strikingly shaped like a human hand – is yielding new insights into teh life and death of a massive star. Combining Chandra’s X-ray data with fresh observations from the australian Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), astronomers have unveiled intricate structures and puzzling phenomena within this 150-light-year-wide remnant of a supernova explosion.
At the heart of this celestial “hand,” dubbed MSH 15-52, lies B1509-58, a pulsar – the incredibly dense, rapidly spinning core of the collapsed star. measuring a mere 12 miles across,this neutron star rotates almost seven times per second,generating a magnetic field 15 trillion times stronger than Earth’s. This extreme energy output drives a powerful wind of particles, sculpting the surrounding nebula.
The system originated when a massive star exhausted its nuclear fuel, triggering a catastrophic collapse and subsequent supernova. The explosion hurled the star’s outer layers into space, leaving behind the pulsar and the expanding nebula.
The new composite image, blending Chandra’s X-ray vision (shown in blue, orange, and yellow) with ATCA’s radio data (in red) and optical light (in gold), reveals a complex interplay of forces. Areas where X-ray and radio emissions overlap appear purple, highlighting regions of intense activity.
Filaments and Missing Signals: Unraveling the Mysteries
ATCA’s radio observations have revealed intricate filaments aligned with the nebula’s magnetic field. Researchers beleive these filaments are formed by the collision of the pulsar’s
