{"id":103183,"date":"2025-08-23T01:45:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T01:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/103183\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T01:45:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T01:45:07","slug":"nasa-captures-cosmic-hand-reaching-through-150-light-years-of-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/103183\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA captures ‘cosmic hand’ reaching through 150 light-years of space"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA has unveiled a breathtaking new image showing what appears to be a massive \u201ccosmic hand\u201d<\/a> stretching across 150 light-years of space, created by one of the galaxy\u2019s most powerful electromagnetic generators.<\/p>\n

The striking composite combines X-ray data from NASA\u2019s Chandra X-ray Observatory with fresh radio observations from Australia\u2019s telescope array, giving scientists their most detailed view yet of pulsar B1509-58 and the spectacular nebula it powers.<\/p>\n

The \u201ccosmic hand\u201d spans 150 light-years \u2014 nearly 900 trillion miles \u2014 across space while at the heart of the display lies a neutron star just 12 miles across, spinning nearly seven times per second.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Chandra X-ray Observatory captured the \u201ccosmic hand,\u201d a pulsar-powered nebula stretching 150 light-years across space. NASA\/CXC\/Un Hong Kong\/Zhang etal \/ SWNS<\/p>\n

A pulsar is a type of neutron star, which is the dense, collapsed core left behind after a massive star explodes in a supernova. A nebula is a giant cloud of gas and dust in space.<\/p>\n

Despite its small size, this collapsed stellar core unleashes staggering amounts of energy.<\/p>\n

Some nebulae are the birthplaces of new stars, formed from collapsing clouds of hydrogen.<\/p>\n

Others, like the one around pulsar B1509-58 (nicknamed the \u201ccosmic hand\u201d), are remnants of exploded stars \u2014 debris blasted into space by a supernova.<\/p>\n

Its magnetic field is estimated at 15 trillion times stronger than Earth\u2019s \u2014 enough to drive a torrent of charged particles outward and shape them into a hand-like structure known as MSH 15-52.<\/p>\n

The new composite image blends X-ray and radio data, revealing pulsar B1509-58 and intricate filaments shaped by its magnetic field. NASA\/CXC\/Un Hong Kong\/Zhang etal \/ SWNS<\/p>\n

This pulsar was born when its parent star exhausted its nuclear fuel, causing it to collapse in on itself before exploding outward as a supernova, scattering debris into space.<\/p>\n

The intense spin and magnetism of the leftover core turned it into one of the galaxy\u2019s most powerful particle generators.<\/p>\n

NASA first captured the \u201ccosmic hand\u201d in 2009, but the new image reveals previously unseen details.<\/p>\n

Despite spanning nearly 900 trillion miles, the nebula is powered by a neutron star only 12 miles across, spinning seven times a second. NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/J. Schmidt<\/p>\n

The radio data highlight intricate filaments tracing the nebula\u2019s magnetic field, created as the pulsar\u2019s wind collides with the expanding debris from the original explosion.<\/p>\n

Intriguingly, the new study shows clear differences between X-ray and radio emissions.<\/p>\n

Features such as a jet near the pulsar and the inner regions of three \u201cfingers\u201d glow brightly in X-rays but vanish in radio light.<\/p>\n

The Chandra X-ray Observatory is NASA\u2019s flagship space telescope dedicated to observing the universe in X-ray light, which comes from some of the hottest and most energetic objects in space. NSF’s NOIRLab\/NASA\/CXC\/J.Vaughan \/ SWNS<\/p>\n

Researchers say this suggests highly energetic particles are escaping from a shock wave close to the pulsar and racing along magnetic field lines to form the glowing structures.<\/p>\n

The observations also shed light on RCW 89, the surrounding supernova remnant. Unlike typical remnants, RCW 89 appears patchy, with clumps of X-ray, radio, and optical emissions interwoven.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis object continues to surprise us,\u201d lead author Shumeng Zhang of the University of Hong Kong wrote in the study, published in The Astrophysical Journal.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBy combining different types of light, we\u2019re uncovering new details about how pulsars and supernova remnants interact.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA has unveiled a breathtaking new image showing what appears to be a massive \u201ccosmic hand\u201d stretching across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[718,79,193,13059,1507,194],"class_list":["post-103183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-nasa","tag-science","tag-space","tag-space-program","tag-stars","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}