Chandra Lends a Hand
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Read the news release: https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/x-ray-and-radio-go-hand-in-hand-in-new-image/
Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Video imagery:
- Hand Nebula, MSH 15-52. X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Hong Kong/S. Zhang et al.; Radio: ATNF/CSIRO/ATCA; H-alpha: UK STFC/Royal Observatory Edinburgh; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk
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A mosaic of colorful astrophotography and space exploration photos.
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Text: News from the Universe. The letters appear above a photo of the surface of Jupiter.
Text: September 22, 2025. Chandra Lends a Hand.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has captured a nebula resembling an outstretched hand, called M S H 15 dash 52. Shades of blue, yellow, and red shine against a field of background stars.
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Text: The image combines the X-ray observations (blue, yellow) with radio data (red) from the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The "hand" portion of the nebula appears in shades of blue and pink and seems to reach upward.
Text: In the "palm" of the hand is B 1 5 0 9 dash 5 8, a pulsar only 12 miles (19 kilometers) in diameter. Dotted lines and labeled arrows indicate the parts of the nebula.
Text: The pulsar is the remaining dense core of a massive star that exploded in a supernova. One label reads "supernova blast wave."
The outer layers of the exploded star have formed a supernova remnant structure, RCW 89, in red and yellow, that the "fingers" of the hand appear to reach toward.
The X-ray features of the image disappear, leaving only the radio-based features. Text: Some X-ray features are not detected in radio, suggesting that highly energetic particles are leaking out from a shock wave near the pulsar and moving along magnetic field lines to create the "fingers". The radio features disappear, and the X-ray features reappear.
This pulsar is one of the most powerful electromagnetic generators in the Milky Way galaxy, and its strong particle wind and magnetic fields create the nebula's unique shape. The X-ray image suggests a blue hand reaching up toward a cluster of bright yellow and orange dots.