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By NASA
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The guitar shape in the “Guitar Nebula” comes from bubbles blown by particles ejected from the pulsar through a steady wind as it moves through space. A movie of Chandra (red) data taken in 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2021 has been combined with a single image in optical light from Palomar. X-rays from Chandra show a filament of energetic matter and antimatter particles, about two light-years long, blasting away from the pulsar (seen as the bright white dot). The movie shows how this filament has changed over two decades. X-ray: NASA/CXC/Stanford Univ./M. de Vries et al.; Optical full field: Palomar Obs./Caltech & inset: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare) Normally found only in heavy metal bands or certain post-apocalyptic films, a “flame-throwing guitar” has now been spotted moving through space. Astronomers have captured movies of this extreme cosmic object using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope.
The new movie of Chandra (red) and Palomar (blue) data helps break down what is playing out in the Guitar Nebula. X-rays from Chandra show a filament of energetic matter and antimatter particles, about two light-years or 12 trillion miles long, blasting away from the pulsar (seen as the bright white dot connected to the filament).
Astronomers have nicknamed the structure connected to the pulsar PSR B2224+65 as the “Guitar Nebula” because of its distinct resemblance to the instrument in glowing hydrogen light. The guitar shape comes from bubbles blown by particles ejected from the pulsar through a steady wind. Because the pulsar is moving from the lower right to the upper left, most of the bubbles were created in the past as the pulsar moved through a medium with variations in density.
X-ray: NASA/CXC/Stanford Univ./M. de Vries et al.; Optical: (Hubble) NASA/ESA/STScI and (Palomar) Hale Telescope/Palomar/CalTech; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare At the tip of the guitar is the pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star left behind after the collapse of a massive star. As it hurtles through space it is pumping out a flame-like filament of particles and X-ray light that astronomers have captured with Chandra.
How does space produce something so bizarre? The combination of two extremes — fast rotation and high magnetic fields of pulsars — leads to particle acceleration and high-energy radiation that creates matter and antimatter particles, as electron and positron pairs. In this situation, the usual process of converting mass into energy, famously determined by Albert Einstein’s E = mc2 equation, is reversed. Here, energy is being converted into mass to produce the particles.
Particles spiraling along magnetic field lines around the pulsar create the X-rays that Chandra detects. As the pulsar and its surrounding nebula of energetic particles have flown through space, they have collided with denser regions of gas. This allows the most energetic particles to escape the confines of the Guitar Nebula and fly to the right of the pulsar, creating the filament of X-rays. When those particles escape, they spiral around and flow along magnetic field lines in the interstellar medium, that is, the space in between stars.
The new movie shows the pulsar and the filament flying towards the upper left of the image through Chandra data taken in 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2021. The movie has the same optical image in each frame, so it does not show changes in parts of the “guitar.” A separate movie obtained with data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (obtained in 1994, 2001, 2006, and 2021) shows the motion of the pulsar and the smaller structures around it.
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Hubble Space Telescope data: 1994, 2001, 2006, and 2021.X-ray: NASA/CXC/Stanford Univ./M. de Vries et al.; Optical full field: Palomar Obs./Caltech & inset: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare) A study of this data has concluded that the variations that drive the formation of bubbles in the hydrogen nebula, which forms the outline of the guitar, also control changes in how many particles escape to the right of the pulsar, causing subtle brightening and fading of the X-ray filament, like a cosmic blow torch shooting from the tip of the guitar.
The structure of the filament teaches astronomers about how electrons and positrons travel through the interstellar medium. It also provides an example of how this process is injecting electrons and positrons into the interstellar medium.
A paper describing these results was published in The Astrophysical Journal and is available here.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here:
https://www.nasa.gov/chandra
https://chandra.si.edu
Visual Description:
This release features two short videos and a labeled composite image, all featuring what can be described as a giant flame-throwing guitar floating in space.
In both the six second multiwavelength Guitar Nebula timelapse video and the composite image, the guitar shape appears at our lower left, with the neck of the instrument pointing toward our upper left. The guitar shape is ghostly and translucent, resembling a wispy cloud on a dark night. At the end of the neck, the guitar’s headstock comes to a sharp point that lands on a bright white dot. This dot is a pulsar, and the guitar shape is a hydrogen nebula. The nebula was formed when particles being ejected by the pulsar produced a cloud of bubbles. The bubbles were then blown into a curvy guitar shape by a steady wind. The guitar shape is undeniable, and is traced by a thin white line in the labeled composite image.
The pulsar, known as PSR B2224+65, has also released a long filament of energetic matter and antimatter particles approximately 12 trillion miles long. In both the composite image and the six second video, this energetic, X-ray blast shoots from the bright white dot at the tip of the guitar’s headstock, all the way out to our upper righthand corner. In the still image, the blast resembles a streak of red dots, most of which fall in a straight, densely packed line. The six second video features four separate images of the phenomenon, created with Chandra data gathered in 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2021. When shown in sequence, the density of the X-ray blast filament appears to fluctuate.
A 12 second video is also included in this release. It features four images that focus on the headstock of the guitar shape. These images were captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1994, 2001, 2006, and 2021. When played in sequence, the images show the headstock shape expanding. A study of this data has concluded that the variations that drive the formation of bubbles in the hydrogen nebula also control changes in the pulsar’s blast filament. Meaning the same phenomenon that created the cosmic guitar also created the cosmic blowtorch shooting from the headstock.
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Abigail Reigner, a systems engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, supports the agency’s research in electrified aircraft propulsion to enable more sustainable air travel. Behind her is a 25% scale model of NASA’s SUbsonic Single Aft eNgine (SUSAN) Electrofan aircraft concept used to test and demonstrate hybrid electric propulsion systems for emission reductions and performance boosts in future commercial aircraft.
Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna Growing up outside of Philadelphia, Abigail Reigner spent most of her childhood miles away from where her family called home, and where there was little trace of her Native American tribe and culture.
Belonging to the Comanche Nation that resides in Lawton, Oklahoma, Reigner’s parents made every effort to keep her connected to her Indigenous heritage and part of a community that would later play a key role in her professional journey.
“My parents were really adamant on making sure my brother and I were still involved in the Native American traditions."
Abigail Reigner
“My parents were really adamant on making sure my brother and I were still involved in the Native American traditions,” Reigner said. “We would go down to Oklahoma often in the summertime, spending time with family and staying immersed in our culture.”
Both her parents come from a teaching background, so Reigner was surrounded by hands-on learning experiences early in life. As a school teacher, her mother would participate in local outreach events each year, talking and interacting with students. Her father, a middle school technology education teacher, taught Reigner how to use computer-aided design (CAD) and helped introduce her to the world of engineering at a young age.
These unique experiences helped spark Reigner’s curiosity for learning about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and connecting with others in her community who shared these interests. Reigner says she never takes her upbringing for granted.
“I feel pretty lucky to have grown up with so many educational opportunities, and I try to use them as a way to give back to my community,” Reigner said.
After participating in various engineering and robotics classes in high school and realizing a career in STEM was the right fit for her, Reigner went on to attend the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering.
During her time there, she joined the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) where she got the unique opportunity to connect with other Indigenous students and mentors in STEM fields and gain leadership experience on projects that eventually set her up for internship opportunities at NASA.
“The opportunities I got through AISES led me to get an internship at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory during the summer of 2021, and then an eight-month co-op the following year working in the center’s materials science division,” Reigner said.
Through AISES, Reigner also met Joseph Connolly, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland who was looking to recruit Indigenous students for full-time positions in the agency. Upon graduating from college, Reigner joined NASA Glenn as an engineer in the summer of 2024.
Abigail Reigner (top far left) and Joseph Connolly (middle far right) pose with NASA employees while staffing a booth at an American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) conference to help recruit Indigenous students to the agency. Credit: Abigail Reigner Today, Reigner works as a systems engineer supporting NASA Glenn’s efforts to test and demonstrate electrified aircraft propulsion technologies for future commercial aircraft as part of the agency’s mission to make air travel more sustainable.
One of the projects she works on is NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD), where she supports risk-reduction testing that enables the project to explore the feasibility of hybrid electric propulsion in reducing emissions and improving efficiency in future aircraft.
“It’s always good to know that you’re doing something that is furthering the benefit of humanity,” Reigner said. “Seeing that unity across NASA centers and knowing that you are a part of something that is accelerating technology for the future is very cool.”
“I really feel like the reason I am here at NASA is because of the success of not just the Native American support group here at Glenn, but also Natives across the agency.”
Abigail Reigner
The growing community of Native Americans at NASA Glenn has fostered several initiatives over the years that have helped recruit, inspire, and retain Indigenous employees.
Leveraging some of the agency’s diversity programs that provide educational STEM opportunities for underrepresented communities, the Native Americans at NASA group has encouraged more students with Indigenous backgrounds to get involved in technical projects while developing the skills needed to excel in STEM fields.
“The Native American support group at NASA has been around since the mid-to-late 1980s and was actually one of the first Native American employee resources groups at the agency,” Connolly said. “Through this, we’ve been able to connect a number of Native employees with senior leaders across NASA and establish more agencywide recruitment efforts and initiatives for Native Americans.”
These initiatives range from support through NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) to help recruit more Indigenous students, to encouraging participation in hands-on learning experiences through projects such as NASA’s University Leadership Initiative (ULI) and the agency’s involvement in the First Nations Launch competition, which helps provide students with opportunities to conduct research while developing engineering and team-building skills.
The efforts of the Native American community at NASA Glenn and across the agency have been successful in not only creating a direct pipeline for Indigenous students into the NASA workforce, but also allowing them to feel seen and represented in the agency, says Connolly.
For Reigner, having this community and resource group at NASA to help guide and support her through her journey has been crucial to her success and important for the future of diversity within the agency.
“I really feel like the reason I am here at NASA is because of the success of not just the Native American support group here at Glenn, but also Natives across the agency,” Reigner said. Without their support and initiatives to recruit and retain students, I wouldn’t be here today.”
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By NASA
Learn Home Integrating Relevant Science… Earth Science Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science 3 min read
Integrating Relevant Science Investigations into Migrant Children Education
For three weeks in August, over 100 migrant children (ages 3-15) got to engage in hands-on activities involving blueberries, pollinators, and eDNA as part of their time with The Blueberry Harvest School (BHS). BHS is a summer school program for migrant children whose families work in Washington County, Maine during the wild blueberry harvest season. The program is hosted by Mano en Mano in Milbridge, Maine. This summer, University of Maine 4-H (part of the NASA Science Activation Program’s Learning Ecosystems Northeast team) was invited to deliver enrichment programs during the school day alongside a seasoned BHS employee – an educator from the Mi’kmaq community in what is now known as Nova Scotia.
The goal of BHS is to meet the needs of youth by providing “culturally responsive, project-based learning while preventing summer learning loss and compensating for school disruptions among students” (Mano en Mano). Migrant families come to Downeast from Mi’kmaq First Nation communities in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, southern states, and from within Maine, including Passamoquoddy communities in eastern Washington County and a Latino community in the western part of the county. Families stay to harvest blueberries anywhere from two to five weeks. With support from 4-H educators, youth surveyed the schoolyard for pollinators, investigated the parts of pollinators and flowers, and learned why blueberries are an important part of Wabanaki culture.
“BHS really becomes a home for the children while they are here. I think one of the reasons is because they are encouraged to be proud of their identity and who they are – they get to be their authentic selves. It’s a neat space where teachers and youth are speaking Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, Spanish and English while supporting each other, and learning and experiencing new things.” — Gabrielle Brodek, 4-H Professional
“After completing my second year helping at Blueberry Harvest School, I loved seeing the returning faces of the kids who have been coming year after year – the kids remember you and hug you and are sad when the season is over and BHS ends.” — Jason Palomo, 4-H Professional
Resources and inspiration for these activities came from NASA Climate Kids, Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s Bees, Blueberries, and Climate Change learning module, National 4-H and ME Ag in the Classroom. On the last day youth experienced how to make a natural dye out of blueberries, a long-standing tradition in Native American culture. Our organizations continue to work together year-round, building stronger relationships and planning for Summer 2025!
The Learning Ecosystems Northeast project is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AB94A and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn
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Last Updated Nov 06, 2024 Editor NASA Science Editorial Team Related Terms
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NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captures a spectacular view the star R Aquarii. Credits:
NASA, ESA, Matthias Stute , Margarita Karovska , Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble), Mahdi Zamani (ESA/Hubble) NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has provided a dramatic and colorful close-up look at one of the most rambunctious stars in our galaxy, weaving a huge spiral pattern among the stars.
Located approximately 700 light-years away, a binary star system called R Aquarii undergoes violent eruptions that blast out huge filaments of glowing gas. The twisted stellar outflows make the region look like a lawn sprinkler gone berserk. This dramatically demonstrates how the universe redistributes the products of nuclear energy that form deep inside stars and jet back into space.
R Aquarii belongs to a class of double stars called symbiotic stars. The primary star is an aging red giant and its companion is a compact burned-out star known as a white dwarf. The red giant primary star is classified as a Mira variable that is over 400 times larger than our Sun. The bloated monster star pulsates, changes temperature, and varies in brightness by a factor of 750 times over a roughly 390-day period. At its peak the star is blinding at nearly 5,000 times our Sun’s brightness.
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features the binary star system R Aquarii. NASA, ESA, Matthias Stute , Margarita Karovska , Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble), Mahdi Zamani (ESA/Hubble) When the white dwarf star swings closest to the red giant along its 44-year orbital period, it gravitationally siphons off hydrogen gas. This material accumulates on the dwarf star’s surface until it undergoes spontaneous nuclear fusion, making that surface explode like a gigantic hydrogen bomb. After the outburst, the fueling cycle begins again.
This outburst ejects geyser-like filaments shooting out from the core, forming weird loops and trails as the plasma emerges in streamers. The plasma is twisted by the force of the explosion and channeled upwards and outwards by strong magnetic fields. The outflow appears to bend back on itself into a spiral pattern. The plasma is shooting into space over 1 million miles per hour – fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in 15 minutes! The filaments are glowing in visible light because they are energized by blistering radiation from the stellar duo.
Hubble first observed the star in 1990. R Aquarii was resolved into two very bright stars separated by about 1.6 billion miles. The ESA/Hubble team now has made a unique timelapse of R Aquarii’s dynamic behavior, from observations spanning from 2014 to 2023. Across the five images, the rapid and dramatic evolution of the binary star and its surrounding nebula can be seen. The binary star dims and brightens due to strong pulsations in the red giant star.
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This video features five frames spanning from 2014 to 2023 of R Aquarii. These frames show the brightness of the central binary changing over time due to strong pulsations in the red giant star. The central structures spiral outward due to their interaction with material previously ejected by the binary. This timelapse highlights the value of Hubble’s high resolution optical observations in the changing universe, known as time-domain astronomy. NASA, ESA, Matthias Stute , Margarita Karovska , Davide De Martin , Mahdi Zamani , N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble) The scale of the event is extraordinary even in astronomical terms. Space-blasted material can be traced out to at least 248 billion miles from the stars, or 24 times our solar system’s diameter. Images like these and more from Hubble are expected to revolutionize our ideas about such unique stellar “volcanoes” as R Aquarii.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, Colorado, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
Bethany Downer
ESA/Hubble
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Last Updated Oct 16, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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