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The Crab Nebula in X-rays
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This Chandra X-ray Observatory
image of the Crab was taken in the
fall of 1999 as part of an observation by Jeff Hestor
(Univ. Arizona) and collaborators. It revealed for the first time
a small ring around the
pulsar. Astronomers surmise that electrons accelerated by the
pulsar enter the nebula at this ring, much as water in a waterfall
splatters in all directions when hitting rocks at the bottom of the
fall. The Chandra image also shows in higher resolution the jets and
larger outer ring which had been previously discovered by ROSAT.
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