This movie from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory shows a fast moving jet of
particles produced by a rapidly rotating neutron star, and may provide new
insight into the nature of some of the densest matter in the universe. The star
of this movie is the Vela pulsar, a neutron star that was formed when a massive
star collapsed. The Vela pulsar is about 1,000 light years from Earth, spansis
about 12 miles in diameter, and makes over 11 complete rotations every second,
faster than a helicopter rotor. As the pulsar whips around, it spews out a jet
of charged particles that race out along the pulsar’s rotation axis at about 70%
of the speed of light. In this still image from the movie, the location of the
pulsar and the 0.7-light-year-long jet are labeled. The Chandra data shown in
the movie, containing 8 images obtained between June and September 2010, suggest
that the pulsar may be slowly wobbling, or processing, as it spins.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=158178731
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