(NASA) Chandra Images Show That Geometry Solves a Pulsar Puzzle
NASA'S Chandra X-ray Observatory has taken deep exposures of two nearby energetic pulsars flying through the Milky Way galaxy. The shape of their X-ray emission suggests there is a geometrical explanation for puzzling differences in behavior shown by some pulsars.
Pulsars − rapidly rotating, highly magnetized, neutron stars born in supernova explosions triggered by the collapse of massive stars − were discovered 50 years ago via their pulsed, highly regular, radio emission. Pulsars produce a lighthouse-like beam of radiation that astronomers detect as pulses as the pulsar's rotation sweeps the beam across the sky.
(...) This four-panel graphic shows the two pulsars observed by Chandra. Geminga is in the upper left and B0355+54 is in the upper right. In both of these images, Chandra’s X-rays, colored blue and purple, are combined with infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope that shows stars in the field of view. Below ach data image, an artist’s illustration depicts more details of what astronomers think the structure of each pulsar wind nebula looks like.
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