In this NASA photograph nicknamed the “Hand of God”, is an object called a pulsar wind nebula.
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It is powered by the leftover, dense core of a star that blew up in a supernova explosion.
The stellar corpse, called PSR B1509-58, or B1509 for short, is a pulsar: it rapidly spins around, seven times per second, firing out a particle wind into the material around it – material that was ejected in the star’s explosion.
These particles are interacting with magnetic fields around the material, causing it to glow with X-rays.
The result is a cloud that, in previous images, looked like an open hand.
The pulsar itself can’t be seen in this picture, but is located near the bright white spot.
NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has imaged the structure in high-energy X-rays for the first time, shown in blue.
Lower-energy X-ray light previously detected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory is shown in green and red.
One of the big mysteries of this object is whether the pulsar particles are interacting with the material in a specific way to make it look like a hand, or if the material is in fact shaped like a hand.
The red cloud at the end of the finger region is a different structure, called RCW 89.
Astronomers think the pulsar’s wind is heating the cloud, causing it to glow with lower-energy X-ray light.
In this image, X-ray light seen by Chandra, with energy ranges of 0.5 to 2 kiloelectron volts (keV) and 2 to 4 keV, is shown in red and green, respectively, while X-ray light detected by NuSTAR in the higher-energy range of 7 to 25 keV is blue.
TOTALITY RECALL OF QUEENSLAND'S ECLIPSE
Dr Kate Russo is the Assistant Course Director, Doctoral program in Clinical Psychology, School of Psychology at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
This is the story of the Total Solar Eclipse, TSE, of 2012 narrated by Dr Russo – an eclipse chaser originally from Innisfail, Far North Queensland and an Outstanding Alumni of James Cook University, Cairns.
The path of totality for the 2012 TSE went across the region of Far North Queensland in Australia and included the diverse environments of the Outback, tropical beaches, and the World Heritage listed Daintree National Park and Great Barrier Reef.
The natural beauty of the region provided a stunning backdrop for this rare astronomical event, which drew an estimated 60,000 visitors from all around the world.
The book uses personal stories and images from locals and visitors from locations around the region to describe the beauty of the Total Solar Eclipse.
The book also includes fantastic eclipse images, showing the eclipse in stunning detail, taken by renowned photographers whose images have appeared on Astronomy Picture of the Day and won other accolades.
Totality is a fantastic souvenir of the eclipse, for locals and those who travelled to FNQ to see the eclipse.
It is also one of the few books that captures the human experience of totality through the many personal stories.
This beautiful souvenir book is available to order for $49 including delivery, or $16 for download.
Details at www.beingintheshadow.com Dr Russo is preparing for the Total Solar Eclipse in the Faroe Islands in 2015.
