June 25, 2002 Astronomers from the University of Massachusetts
and Columbia University have found the "bulls-eye" pulsar in a
bright ring of high-energy particles in a distant supernova
remnant. This discovery, made with NASA's Chandra X-ray
Observatory and the Arecibo Radio Telescope, will help
scientists better understand how neutron stars channel enormous
amounts of energy into particles moving near the speed of light.
Chandra's image of the supernova remnant SNR G54.1+0.3 reveals a
bright, point-like central source, which is surrounded by a ring
and two jet-like structures in an extended nebula of high-energy
particles. The radio data show that this bright central source
is a neutron star, or pulsar, that is rotating 7 times per
second. "The features Chandra found appear to be due to the
energetic flow of radiation and particles from a rapidly
spinning neutron star formed during a supernova event," said
Fangjun Lu of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst who led
the X-ray research. Lu and colleagues