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The Crab Nebula
Images of of the Crab Nebula and Pulsar
from ROSAT (left) and Chandra (right). The ROSAT image shows X-rays
from 0.1 - 2.0 keV; the Chandra image shows X-rays from 0.5 - 8.5
keV.
(Click on images for higher resolution versions)
(ROSAT
Credit: S.L. Snowden, NASA/GSFC. Chandra Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO)
Both the Crab Nebula and Crab pulsar are clearly visible in these
images of the Crab nebula taken by the ROSAT High Resolution Imager
(HRI) (left) and the Chandra X-ray Observatory's Advanced CCD Imaging
Spectrometer (ACIS) (right). The supernova precursor to these objects
was observed by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054. The pulsar
(the bright compact emission) produces highly relativistic electrons
which themselves produce synchrotron radiation in the magnetic field
of the nebula.
Last Updated: March 2011
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