Actual Video Of Fast-Spinning Vela Pulsar Wobbling & Jetting X-Rays!

I've NEVER seen real VIDEO of a collapsing star wobbling and jetting out X-rays close to the speed of light
...until NOW! The Chandra X-ray Observatory has captured an 8-frame movie of the Vela Pulsar!

A NASA space telescope has captured a movie of a collapsed star that's spinning more than 11 times each second and unleashing ultra-fast particles that move at 70 percent of the speed of light.

The new video of the spinning Vela pulsar was recorded by the Chandra X-ray Observatory shows a new look at the ultra-dense star, which is just 12 miles (19 kilometers) wide and located about 1,000 light-years from Earth. It spews out a jet of charged particles along its rotation axis as it spins.

"We think the Vela pulsar is like a rotating garden sprinkler — except with the water blasting out at over half the speed of light," researcher Martin Durant, of the University of Toronto in Canada, said in a statement.
Space.com Article

The Vela pulsar, a neutron star that was formed when a massive star collapsed.
CREDIT: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Toronto/M.Durant et al; Optical: DSS/Davide De Martin

Just 12 miles across, a collapsed star 1000 light years from Earth spins more than 11 times each second. The Vela pulsar belches charged particles at 70% of light-speed, seen here in this 8-frame movie from the space-based Chandra X-ray Observatory.

This is incredibly impressive and I am very excited to see more things like this in the future. Great find op!!
I know that this may be a dumb question to some people on here, but if we can capture images and frames like this of such a small object 1000 light years away, why can't (or just aren't) we using this tech to view objects in our own solar system or objects in the nearest star systems?

How can you find something only 12 miles wide, 1000 light years away, that's impossible.

reply to post by cybro

In the world of gamma rays it is the brightest known object in the skies.

Originally posted by Phantasm
I've NEVER seen real VIDEO of a collapsing star wobbling ...

And you still havn't yet.

This 8 frame "movie" is just a sequence of photographs taken between "June and September 2010".
So they took a photo every few weeks and created an animation from them.

If the particles are at travelling 70% the speed of light, what speed are we detecting them at?



And then, how old are they?

Originally posted by cybro
How can you find something only 12 miles wide, 1000 light years away, that's impossible.

Exoplanetary surveys want you to think that.
Truth is even the Sun emits Gamma and X-Rays.

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by Phantasm
I've NEVER seen real VIDEO of a collapsing star wobbling ...

And you still havn't yet.

This 8 frame "movie" is just a sequence of photographs taken between "June and September 2010".
So they took a photo every few weeks and created an animation from them.

Yeah, I know. But it's still pretty cool. Considering the light from the Vela Pulsar took 1000 years to reach us, I'm satisfied with a video showing how it's reacting even if the photos used were taken over 4 months. Time works differently in space.

Originally posted by abecedarian
If the particles are at travelling 70% the speed of light, what speed are we detecting them at?

It is not the particles which are being detected. When the extremely energetic particles hit other particles they emit x-rays. It is those x-rays (traveling at the speed of light) which are detected.

And then, how old are they?

About One thousand years.

On this similar topic, I'd like to see an animation put together of photos taken of the crab nebula over the last 100 years.
If there is one, my google-fu is failing me just now.

nice post OP
just think anytime now Betelgeuse will go supa-nova! (over due)
now that will be a show
it will be strange as it will look like a second sun in our skies
and the spectacle will last around 2 weeks
not 8 photos!

reply to post by GezinhoKiko


I really want to see that, can't it just get on with it already.

Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait, added some annotations to this video of the Vela Pulsar and points out areas of interest and explain what's taking place.

"At the center of the Vela supernova remnant is a madly spinning neutron star. It spins *11 times per second*, which helps it whip up a magnetic field so fierce it can actually defy the gravity of the star, which is a billion times stronger than Earth's!

All of this help it generate two beams of matter and energy that blast away from its poles. Recent observations of this beam show that it appears to be wobbly, making a corkscrew motion over a period of 120 days. This movie is made from 8 images of the pulsar and its weird beam taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory." ~ Phil Plait

Video credit: NASA/CXC/UToronto/M. Durrant et al.
Notes and annotations: Phil Plait

If the evidence for precession of the Vela pulsar is confirmed, it would be the first time a neutron star has been found to be this way. The shape and the motion of the Vela jet look strikingly like a rotating helix, a shape that is naturally explained by precession.

Another possibility is the strong magnetic fields around the pulsar are influencing the shape of the jet. For example, if the jet develops a small bend caused by precession, the magnetic field's lines on the inside of the bend will become more closely spaced. This pushes particles toward the outside of the bend, increasing the effect.

If precession is confirmed and the Vela pulsar is indeed a distorted neutron star, it should be a persistent source of gravitational waves, and would be a prime target for the next generation of gravitational wave detectors designed to test Einstein's theory of general relativity.
NASA.gov Mission/Chandra - Vela Pulsar

reply to post by GezinhoKiko


I too would like to see that happen in my life time. Isn't a super nova overdue for us at any rate?

great post OP. I love being able to see this kind of thing.

Originally posted by Armadall
This is incredibly impressive and I am very excited to see more things like this in the future. Great find op!!
I know that this may be a dumb question to some people on here, but if we can capture images and frames like this of such a small object 1000 light years away, why can't (or just aren't) we using this tech to view objects in our own solar system or objects in the nearest star systems?

You are getting confused the pulsar itself may only be 12 miles across but you don't see that .

In this image

In this still image from the movie, the location of the pulsar and the 0.7-light-year-long jet are labeled.

The Jet is 0.7 light years long or 4.11494987 × 10 to the 12 miles

This object is HUGE!!!!

I found the definition of a 'supernova' and a short video of more images captured of other collapsing stars going supernova or at the least showing remnants of having been supernova.

Supernova (def.): Explosive death of a star, caused by the sudden onset of nuclear burning in a white dwarf star, or gravitational collapse of the core of massive star followed by a shock wave that disrupts the star.

Supernovas are some of the most dramatic events in the cosmos. These titanic events send shock waves rumbling through space and create giant bubbles of gas that have been superheated to millions of degrees. Chandra has captured supernovas and the remnants they've left behind in spectacular X-ray images, helping to determine the energy, composition, and dynamics of these celestial explosions.

Read more: Chandra.Harvard.edu Supernovas.

Whats more important is the got LIVE video of the event, amazing!!!

I almost couldnt believe it.

Despite this not being an actual video it is still a spectacular collection of images. Thanks for sharing!

Originally posted by AnonLover
Whats more important is the got LIVE video of the event, amazing!!!

I almost couldnt believe it.

Actually it's 959 YEARS OLD , it's 959 light years away.

hmmmm.....




I shall watch this again.