Astronomers have discovered an extraordinary sight in the universe – a nebula resembling a flame-throwing guitar. The discovery was made possible by the joint efforts of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. Named the Guitar Nebula, it displays the cosmic artifact of a collapsing star, spewing out streams of energetic particles in a spectacle that looks like a fire-breathing guitar at a concert in space.
A NASA video highlights Chandra’s role in capturing the filament of energetic particles at the top of the guitar-like structure. The caption reads, “Normally found only in heavy metal bands or some post-apocalyptic movies, a ‘flame-throwing guitar’ has now been spotted hurtling through space,” Chandra’s X-rays reveal energetic matter and antimatter Shows a filament of. The particles, about two light-years or 12 trillion miles long, fly away from the pulsar.”
Watch the video here:
At the core of this cosmic guitar is a pulsar, PSR B2224+65. Pulsars are highly magnetic, rotating neutron stars that emit regular pulses of radiation like lighthouse beacons. The dynamic energy of the pulsar gives rise to the nebula’s attractive shape. “The guitar shape comes from bubbles blown by particles ejected from the pulsar through the stagnant wind. Because the pulsar is rotating from bottom right to top left, most of the bubbles were formed in the past when the pulsar was passing through a medium with variations in density,” NASA said in a release.
This video highlights the motion of the pulsar and its filament in the upper left of the frame, based on Chandra data collected in 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2021. Meanwhile, a separate video created using observations from the Hubble Space Telescope – spanning 1994, 2001, 2006 and 2021 – captures the pulsar’s motion and smaller nearby features.
Data analysis shows that the same variations responsible for creating bubbles in the hydrogen nebula – shaping the guitar-like outline – also affect the number of particles emitted to the right of the pulsar. This activity causes slight fluctuations in the brightness of the X-ray filament, resembling a cosmic blowtorch extending from the tip of a guitar.
The formation of the filament sheds light on how electrons and positrons navigate through the interstellar medium. It also shows how these particles enter the surrounding space.
The findings have been documented in a study published in The Astrophysical Journal.
