If you got it, haunt it ⁣ ⁣ A pulsar wind nebula resembles a ghostly hand in a composite image captured by NASAChandraXray and the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). The pulsar, a fast spinning dense neutron star, can be seen as a bright white spot near the base of the palm. The new combination with IXPE reveals the magnetic field “bones” of this remarkable structure. IXPE observed this pulsar, MSH 15-52, for 17 days which is the longest it has looked at any single object since it launched in December 2021. ⁣ ⁣ The second image shows the magnetic field map in MSH 15-52. In this image, short straight lines represent IXPE polarization measurements, mapping the direction of the local magnetic field. Orange “bars” mark the most precise measurements, followed by cyan and blue bars with less precise measurements. The complex field lines follow the `wrist', 'palm' and 'fingers' of the hand, and probably help define the extended finger-like structures.⁣ ⁣ The amount of polarization — ...