闪烁的蟹状星云脉冲星

2021年02月09日

Flashes of the Crab Pulsar
Video Credit & Copyright: Martin Fiedler

Explanation: It somehow survived an explosion that would surely have destroyed our Sun. Now it is spins 30 times a second and is famous for the its rapid flashes. It is the Crab Pulsar, the rotating neutron star remnant of the supernova that created the Crab Nebula. A careful eye can spot the pulsar flashes in the featured time-lapse video, just above the image center. The video was created by adding together images taken only when the pulsar was flashing, as well as co-added images from other relative times. The Crab Pulsar flashes may have been first noted by an unknown woman attending a public observing night at the University of Chicago in 1957 — but who was not believed. The progenitor supernova explosion was seen by many in the year 1054 AD. The expanding Crab Nebula remains a picturesque expanding gas cloud that glows across the electromagnetic spectrum. The pulsar is now thought to have survived the supernova explosion because it is composed of extremely-dense quantum-degenerate matter.

Tomorrow’s picture: lasing space

闪烁的蟹状星云脉冲星
影片提供与版权: Martin Fiedler

说明: 在必然会摧毁我们太阳的爆炸之中，它不知为何幸存下来。目前它每秒自转30次，并以拥有快速的闪烁著称。它是蟹状星云脉冲星，是造成蟹状星云的超新星爆炸遗留下来的旋转中子星。在这部缩时主题影片里，细心的人不难在影片的中心上方，找到这颗不停闪烁的脉冲星。这部影片，是由摄于脉冲星发出亮闪及其他无亮闪期间的照片集合而成。早在1957年，一位参加芝加哥大学民众观测夜的无名妇女，可能是首位住意到蟹状星云脉冲星会闪烁，不过未被采信。在西元1054年，有非常多的人目睹了这例超新星爆炸。而所形成的蟹状星云，至今仍是一团很美丽不停扩张的云气，而且在所有的电磁波段散发辉光。现在认为这颗脉冲星之所以能在超新星爆炸孑遗下来，则是因为它的组成是极端致密的量子简并物质。

明日的图片: lasing space