蟹狀星雲) Q: B4 ^* D) q$ c K6 q- N6 R
Composite Crab 3 }; U$ B O$ {3 n% k- l% f
/ c& D; X9 p# G1 z: {5 x7 h w3 I) s. t @. ~. I * ?5 z) [3 y* f- {4 Q; cCredit: NASA - X-ray: CXC, J.Hester (ASU) et al.; ) X: ]# n& l6 s, \4 x, K2 j% X
Optical: ESA, J.Hester and A.Loll (ASU); Infrared: JPL-Caltech, R.Gehrz (U. Minn) . z1 c: t; u" ^6 g6 J) d+ h) h& p4 a0 y2 ` K
Explanation: ( M% x' M1 `/ Q9 n# r0 C4 |* T9 C- C
The Crab Nebula is cataloged as M1, the first object on Charles Messier's famous list of things which are not comets. In fact, the Crab is now known to be a supernova remnant, expanding debris from the death explosion of a massive star. This intriguing false-color image combines data from space-based observatories, Chandra, Hubble, and Spitzer, to explore the debris cloud in x-rays (blue-purple), optical (green), and infrared (red) light. One of the most exotic objects known to modern astronomers, the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star spinning 30 times a second, is the bright spot near picture center. Like a cosmic dynamo, this collapsed remnant of the stellar core powers the Crab's emission across the electromagnetic spectrum. Spanning about 12 light-years, the Crab Nebula is 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. 9 V, j& }* x5 v* R1 P! P
& J) p5 M4 h! J9 N" L( S$ F! }( A說明: 3 f8 m+ J6 n* H7 b# T: s 蟹狀星雲的編錄是M1，也就是梅西葉著名的「非彗星型錄」的第一個天體。現在我們知道蟹狀星雲是一個超新星遺骸--大質量恆星死亡爆炸所產生的擴張碎片雲。這幅有趣的假色影像，組合了來自錢卓拉、哈伯和史匹哲等太空天文望遠鏡的數據，在X射線 (藍-紫)、可見光 (綠)和紅外光 (紅)波段探索這團宇宙碎片雲。星雲中心附近的亮斑是蟹狀星雲波霎，為一顆每轉自轉30次的中子星，是現代天文學家公認最奇特的天體之一。就像一個宇宙級的發電機，這顆恆星核崩塌所產生的遺骸，是蟹狀星雲發出各種電磁波段輻射的能量源。蟹狀星雲位在金牛座內，離我們約有6,500光年遠，大小約有12光年。 + Z' b- T g6 T3 s' G9 q : A6 x! Q; z2 u資料來源: Scientific American U! {( G( P- T0 N5 b! H
Department of Physics, NCKU
