The Creepiest Space Photo You Will Ever See

April 08, 2009

I can't believe Phil Plait -- the Bad Astronomer himself and persistent plucker of pareidoliac photos -- hasn't posted about this gem from NASA's Image of the Day!

Take a look, and prepare to be frightened:

Aaaaaaaaagh!!

I dare you to tell me that this is not the creepiest (legitimate) space image you have ever laid eyes on...
...that's what I thought.

What does it all mean, you ask?

I think we have a clear case for the Hand of God reaching for something... godly:

Nothing wrong with crafting a truly "ultimate" pasta sauce.

Jokes aside, you're wondering what this image is really a photo of:
It's a Chandra X-ray Observatory image of a young but extremely powerful pulsar called PSR B1509-58 (for normal people, that's B1509 for short).

Pulsars (also called magnetars) are rapidly spinning, ultra-dense wads of neutrons. This particular one is just about 12 miles in diameter, making it more or less unseen in the first image. (If you missed my video narration of a pulsar a few weeks back, take a peek here.)

B1509 is spinning around about once every 7 seconds and has a magnetic field trillions of times stronger than Earth's. Yowsa!

How big is the nebulous "hand" made by the pulsar? A whopping 150 light-years in diameter! The pulsar's wicked spin is responsible for the X-ray nebula; like a freakish dynamo magnet, its super-powerful field flings away particles into space. As these electrons and ions zoom around, they eventually lose the energy in the form of X-rays -- which is why Chandra can see it.

More from NASA's release:

In this image, the lowest energy X-rays that Chandra detects are red, the medium range is green, and the most energetic ones are colored blue. Astronomers think that B1509 is about 1,700 years old and it is located about 17,000 light years away.

Photos, top to bottom: NASA/CXC/CfA/P. Slane et al.; Dave Mosher, Discovery.com

Comments

[David Stewart]

Wow you see the hand oriented completely different than I do
after some thought I have decided to declare your interpretation wrong.
In the cosmic hand picture we are looking at the BACK of the hand - the thumb disappears to the left - the rightmost digit is the little finger.
Hold your hand in front of you and try to copy that positioning - You will agree with me
Obey!

[susan f]

you know what is the really creepy part of this picture? The idea that at the center of it all is a pulsar spewing ungodly magnetic energy (and I thought MRIs were bad), yet it doesn't harm us here on earth because it's so far away--mind-blowing, er, creepy!

[scgvlmike]

Kjazz: add the figures together. The pulsar was born 18,700 years ago. Because it's 17,000 light years away, it appears as if it was created just 1,700 years ago.

[Kjazz]

Just a quick question...maybe stupid. Perhaps there is something I'm missing, but;
If it takes the light from this PSR B1509-58 nebulae 17,000 years to get here, but Astronomers think it is only 1700 years old...
"Howcum" we can see it?

[Chris]

That is obviously in the shape of an angel squeezing a snail.

[SteveDJ]

I thought that in the stellar 'hand', that was a thumb extending out to the right. So either it is a Right Hand (not Left), or your alternative photo has the hand in the wrong position. :-)

[EricT]

Haha wow very creepy at first, but strangely warming and delicious at the same time.

Love the new look of the site!

[Dave Mosher]

Jeff, that is an incredibly astute observation... as if the nebula is giving itself a big **** you!

[Jeff]

Only in one other photo from the Hubble of the Carina Nebula, just off to the top left of the Carina is a smaller nebula I like to call the Bird Nebula for some reason

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1063.html

[XantesFire]

I was so focus on that it was another Mary sighting that I didn't even notice the hand til it was pointed out.
Isn't that what the blue glowy part looks like? Or maybe a penguin.

[Pete]

Absolutely stunning..

[Bruce the Clydesdale]

Looks as if it could be a crown-of-thorns too, in keeping with the religious theme.