Crab Nebula: The Multiwavelength Structure of a Pulsar Wind Nebula

This visualization features a three-dimensional multiwavelength representation of the Crab Nebula, an iconic remnant of a star that was seen exploding in the year 1054 AD. This is a view looking into the heart of the nebula, home to its rapidly spinning crushed stellar core, called a pulsar. The torrential outflow of radiation from this magnetic dynamo illuminates the nebula.

The visualization is based on images from NASA's three Great Observatories: the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. Observing the nebula across its wide spectrum of energies provides a holistic view of its complex structure.

The movie begins by showing the Crab Nebula in context, pinpointing the location of the observed supernova in the constellation Taurus. This view zooms in to present the Hubble, Spitzer, and Chandra images of the Crab Nebula, each highlighting one of the nested structures in the system.

The video then begins a slow buildup of the three-dimensional X-ray structure, showing the pulsar and disk of energized material, and adding jets of radiation firing off from opposite sides of the energetic dynamo.

Appearing next is a rotating infrared view of a glowing cloud of emission, called synchrotron radiation, enveloping the pulsar system. This distinctive form of radiation occurs when streams of charged particles spiral around the pulsar's magnetic field lines. 

The visible-light outer shell of the Crab Nebula appears next. Looking like a cage around the entire system, this shell of glowing gas consists of tentacle-shaped filaments of glowing oxygen. The tsunami of particles unleashed by the pulsar is pushing on this expanding debris cloud like an animal rattling its cage.

The X-ray, infrared, and visible-light models are combined at the end of the movie to reveal both a rotating three-dimensional multiwavelength view, and the corresponding two-dimensional image of the Crab Nebula.