Daily Image
20-05-2008
The Crab Pulsar and Nebula
| Submitter: | Joeri van Leeuwen |
| Description: | The Crab Pulsar and the Crab Nebula are one impressive pair as seen with ASTRON's Westerbork and ESO's VLT telescopes. Only 10 miles across but 500.000 times as massive as the Earth, the pulsar is a cosmic lighthouse that spins 30 times each second, sweeping around bundles of bright radio waves. In this image we see a 1-second snapshot of these peaked waves as they reach Westerbork/PuMaII after 6000 years of interstellar travel. |
| Copyright: | Joeri van Leeuwen/Ben Stappers |
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