The Crab Nebula is part of a number of studies by astronomers. It started back on February 22, 1971, when a sonic rocket took off carrying specialized sensors towards the Crab Nebula from Wallops Island, Virginia. Later, Martin Weisskopf, an astronomer, proposed the creation of a satellite orbiting the Earth, equipped with advanced instruments to obtain more comprehensive data about the Crab Nebula and other planets. other mysterious cosmic bodies. This idea has finally surfaced with NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarizer Probe (IXPE), which is due to launch on December 9, 2021.
More than five decades since the sonic rocket test, scientists have used IXPE to create a comprehensive and complex description of the Crab Nebula’s magnetic field, revealing even more about the mechanics. its insides like never before. As discovered by IXPE, the magnetic field structure of the Crab Nebula bears a resemblance to the Vela Pulsar Wind Nebula, which has a similar donut shape. However, the scientists were surprised to observe that in the Crab Nebula, the magnetic disturbance arrays are more unevenly distributed and asymmetrical than expected.
Learn more about the Crab Nebula
The Crab Nebula is located in the constellation Taurus, 6500 light-years away. Earthand formed as the result of a supernova recorded in 1054. The aftermath of the explosion left behind a dense object known as the Crab Pulsar, which is about the size of Huntsville, Alabama or the length. of Manhattan, but possessing the same mass as two Suns.
The technology behind the Crab Nebula
In hopes of understanding the extreme environmental conditions of the Nebula, they used the polarization of X-rays emitted by the Crab Nebula, which emits brilliant X-ray light. The polarization of X-rays provides scientists with indications of the direction of the magnetic field in different parts of a cosmic entity and the degree of order of the magnetic field. “The geometry and perturbation of the magnetic field determine how particles are launched to the speed of light,” NASA explain. On average, the Crab Nebula exhibits about 20% polarization.
The Crab Nebula, a mysterious supernova remnant, has been the object of study by several large telescopes in recent times. However, the only ability to study X-ray polarization, which is a measure of the organization of electromagnetic fields, from the Crab Nebula is exclusive to IXPE, NASA explained.
