Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURAImage Processing: J. Miller (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)Acknowledgments: M. de Vries & R. Romani (Stanford University)

This mesmerizing field of view harbors an incredible enigma invisible to the human eye. It was captured using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) mounted on the Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, which is partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab. Inside this cloudy region is a gamma-ray pulsar, PSR J2030+4415, an extremely dense object left behind by the deaths of stars 10–25 times more massive than the Sun. In death, these supermassive stars explode into supernovae, leaving behind their gravitationally collapsed cores as objects known as neutron stars. Neutron stars have roughly 1.5 times the mass of the Sun packed into a sphere about 12 miles in diameter. For comparison, a single teaspoon of neutron-star material would weigh as much as Mount Everest! Highly magnetized and rapidly spinning neutron stars are known as pulsars. They emit jets of electromagnetic radiation from their poles as they spin, like the gamma rays emitting from PSR J2030+4415. As astronomers see a beam of radiation periodically pointing towards Earth, this creates an effect similar to a lighthouse. The surrounding cloudy material is called a pulsar wind nebula, which consists of the shedded material from the supernova being blown around by winds generated from the pulsar. Evidence of the shock front is visible in the upper left quadrant of this image. You can find an annotated version of this image here.

Provider: NOIRLab

Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2530a/

Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License