"It resides 17,000 light-years away, on the outskirts of an enormous star-forming region in Circinus. Hints to its existence arose in 1982: with pulsar PSR B1509-58 's discovery. Regular radio pulses, emitted every 150 milliseconds, indicate a pulsar. Shortly after, an optical counterpart was found, implicating a supernova ~1700 years ago. It's analogous to the much closer Crab Nebula, which detonated in 1054. A dense, compact neutron star spins rapidly, generating intense magnetic fields. Inside, charged particles like electrons are swiftly accelerated."
"Surrounding the central source, emission features change rapidly. But MSH 15-52's pulsar also impacts the surrounding environment, not merely supernova ejecta. Polarization studies allow us to trace the surrounding magnetic field. It all points back to the central pulsar: carving and shaping this windy nebula. New observations highlight radio waves, neutral hydrogen atoms, and X-ray emissions, which, when all combined together, reveal emissions even beyond the supernova blast wave's edge."
MSH 15-52 is a pulsar wind nebula located about 17,000 light-years away on the outskirts of a star-forming region in Circinus. Pulsar PSR B1509-58 emits regular radio pulses every 150 milliseconds and originates from a supernova roughly 1700 years ago. A compact neutron star spins rapidly, generating intense magnetic fields and accelerating charged particles that produce variable emission features. Polarization traces reveal magnetic field structures shaped by the central pulsar. Combined radio, neutral hydrogen, and X-ray observations show emissions extending beyond the supernova blast wave, producing a structure roughly 150 light-years across and raising questions about radio emission extent.
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