Young Pulsar Shows Its Hand

A small, dense object only twelve miles in diameter is responsible for a beautiful X-ray nebula that spans 150 light years. At the center of a new image made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is a very young and powerful pulsar, known as PSR B1509-58, or B1509 for short. This image is being unveiled as part of the "Around the World in 80 Telescopes" webcast as part of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.[...]