A recently released image by NASA shows a massive stream of plasma, X-rays, and supercharged particles shooting out from a guitar-shaped phantom structure.
According to NASA, the ethereal guitar in space captured in this image is known as the “Guitar Nebula”, a gigantic cloud of hydrogen gas located approximately 6,500 light-years from Earth.
The Guitar Nebula is shaped by a phenomenon called “bow shock”, generated from material being expelled by pulsar B2224+65a, the “zombie” remnant of a colossal star that has collapsed.
The Guitar Nebula in the image recently released by NASA – (Photo: NASA).
From Earth, this nebula appears like a simple musical instrument. However, in reality, it is a chaotic mass, lacking a defined shape, emanating from the dead star.
This nebula was first discovered in 1993, but this is the first time it has been observed so clearly.
In the new imagery, a slightly curved light stream can be seen, nearly perpendicular to the axis of the guitar.
This represents the colossal energy stream, approximately 2 light-years long (19 trillion kilometers), that the aforementioned immortal pulsar is ejecting.
From a distance, it looks as though the guitar is spewing flames in a frenzied performance across the sky.
Animated image showing the “zombie” star wildly spewing flames (Photo: NASA).
The new images are a combination of observations made by the Palomar Observatory in California (USA), which show visible light in blue; and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which reveals X-rays emitted by the jet stream in red.
While the Guitar Nebula and the “flame spewing” jets are not directly connected, a 2022 study using data from Chandra and the Hubble Space Telescope uncovered many factors in the environment of stars that could shape the nebula as well as the jet stream.
Thus, researchers hope that continued study of this pulsar will yield new insights into the mysterious interstellar environment within our galaxy.
