蟹状星云的旋转脉冲星

2022年8月21日

The Spinning Pulsar of the Crab Nebula
Image Credit: NASA: X-ray: Chandra (CXC), Optical: Hubble (STScI), Infrared: Spitzer (JPL-Caltech)

Explanation: At the core of the Crab Nebula lies a city-sized, magnetized neutron star spinning 30 times a second. Known as the Crab Pulsar, it is the bright spot in the center of the gaseous swirl at the nebula’s core. About twelve light-years across, the spectacular picture frames the glowing gas, cavities and swirling filaments near the Crab Nebula’s center. The featured picture combines visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope in purple, X-ray light from the Chandra X-ray Observatory in blue, and infrared light from the Spitzer Space Telescope in red. Like a cosmic dynamo the Crab pulsar powers the emission from the nebula, driving a shock wave through surrounding material and accelerating the spiraling electrons. With more mass than the Sun and the density of an atomic nucleus,the spinning pulsar is the collapsed core of a massive star that exploded. The outer parts of the Crab Nebula are the expanding remnants of the star’s component gasses. The supernova explosion was witnessed on planet Earth in the year 1054.

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蟹状星云的旋转脉冲星
影像提供: NASA: X射线: Chandra (CXC), 可见光: Hubble (STScI), 红外光: Spitzer (JPL-Caltech)

说明: 在蟹状星云的核心，有一颗城市大小、每秒自转30次的磁化中子星。而这颗称为蟹状星云脉冲星的天体，就位在星云核心气体涡漩中心的亮斑所在之处。这张宽约12光年的精采影像，呈现了蟹状星云中心附近的辉光云气、空洞和漩涡纹。这幅主题影像，整合了来自哈勃太空望远镜的可见光（紫）、钱德拉天文台的X射线（蓝）、斯皮策太空望远镜的红外光（红）数据。这颗脉冲星就像一座宇宙级的发电机，驱动星云发出辉光，推动激波传播到周围空间的物质，也加速进行螺旋运动的电子。这颗高速旋转、质量大于太阳、密度和原子核相近的脉冲星，是一颗爆炸大质量恒星的塌缩星核；而蟹状星云则是此恒星遗留的外层气壳。地球的住民，在西元1054年（北宋至和元年）曾目睹这例超新星爆炸。 （Spinning Pulsar 旋转中子星、波霎、脉冲星）

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