The Crab Nebula in 60 Seconds
Narrator (Megan Watzke, CXC): In 1054 A.D.,
a star's death in the constellation Taurus
was observed on Earth. Now, almost a thousand
years later, a superdense neutron star left
behind by the explosion is spewing out a blizzard
of extremely high-energy particles into the
expanding debris field known as the Crab Nebula.
This image combines data from Hubble, Spitzer
and Chandra telescopes. The size of the X-ray
image is smaller than the others because ultrahigh-energy
X-ray emitting electrons radiate away their
energy more quickly than the lower-energy
electrons emitting optical and infrared light.
By studying the Crab Nebula, astronomers hope
to unlock the secrets of how similar objects
across the universe are powered.
