Description: A long look by Chandra at 3C58 shows that the central pulsar - a rapidly rotating neutron star formed in the supernova event - is surrounded by a bright torus of X-ray emission. An X-ray jet erupts in both directions from the center of the torus, and extends over a distance of a few light years. Further out, an intricate web of X-ray loops can be seen. These features are due to radiation from extremely high-energy particles moving in a magnetic field, and show a strong resemblance to the rings, jets and loops around the Crab pulsar. The 3C58 pulsar, the Crab pulsar, and a growing list of other pulsars offer dramatic proof that strong electromagnetic fields around rapidly rotating neutron stars are powerful generators of both high-energy particles and magnetic fields.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray

Date: 2004

Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/3c58/

Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Gift line: NASA/CXC/SAO/P.Slane et al.