# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CpqvJcvM-VV
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/4750738-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/6befa9514f.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-03-11T23:52:49.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

Cosmic Lighthouse ⛯

About 10,000 years ago, light from the explosion of a giant star arrived at Earth. This supernova left behind a dense object called a pulsar, which appears to brighten regularly as it spins, like a cosmic lighthouse beacon. 

This phenomenon is caused by winds of particles on the surface of the pulsar that emerge and travel near the speed of light, creating a chaotic hodgepodge of charged particles and magnetic fields that crash into surrounding gas. 

Using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) to measure this pulsar’s polarization, which has to do with how electromagnetic waves are organized, scientists are getting an unprecedented understanding of how a cosmic object like a pulsar accelerates particles to high speeds. 

Image description: 
A pulsar wind nebula. A hazy blue halo in the center of the image reveals X-ray polarization data from IXPE. From the halo, a faint blue fuzzy line points to the upper right-hand corner, revealing a jet of high-energy particles shooting out from the pulsar at about half the speed of light. Pink X-ray "arcs" form the edges of a donut-shaped region around the blue halo, these arcs are where the pulsar wind shocks and accelerates high-energy particles. At the center of the colorful halo, a small white circle marks the location of the pulsar. Pink and purple hues washout the edges of the halo, representing data from NASAChandraXray. In the background, the dark blackness of space dominates, interrupted by sprinkles of golden stars as captured by NASAHubble. 

Credits: X-ray: (IXPE) NASA/MSFC/Fei Xie & (Chandra) NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI Hubble/Chandra processing by Judy Schmidt; Hubble/Chandra/IXPE processing & compositing by NASA/CXC/SAO/Kimberly Arcand & Nancy Wolk

#NASA #Space #Cosmos #Astrophotography #IXPE #Pulsar #Supernova #Xray

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## Tags

cosmos, nasa, astrophotography, xray, space, supernova, ixpe, pulsar

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