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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Cir X-1: Jets in the Africa Nebula
NASA ^ | 3 Sep. 2025 | Image Credit: J. English (U. Manitoba) & K. Gasealahwe (U. Cape Town), SARAO, MeerKAT, ThunderKAT; S

Posted on 09/03/2025 1:23:23 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: How soon do jets form when a supernova gives birth to a neutron star? The Africa Nebula provides clues. This supernova remnant surrounds Circinus X-1, an X-ray emitting neutron star and the companion star it orbits. The image, from the ThunderKAT collaboration on the MeerKAT radio telescope situated in South Africa, shows the bright core-and-lobe structure of Cir X-1’s currently active jets inside the nebula. A mere 4600 years old, Cir X-1 could be the "Little Sister" of microquasar SS 433*. However, the newly discovered bubble exiting from a ring-like hole in the upper right of the nebula, along with a ring to the bottom left, demonstrate that other jets previously existed. Computer simulations indicate those jets formed within 100 years of the explosion and lasted up to 1000 years. Surprisingly, to create the observed bubble, the jets need to be more powerful than young neutron stars were previously thought to produce.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa
To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 09/03/2025 1:23:23 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 09/03/2025 1:23:49 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; ...
Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

3 posted on 09/03/2025 1:24:56 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Looks like the Africa Nebula has been colonized by white.


4 posted on 09/03/2025 1:53:12 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: MtnClimber
Giant Space Amoeba about to bud. Japanese predicted this in...
Dogora..

5 posted on 09/03/2025 2:00:10 PM PDT by Waverunner (Torah! Torah! Torah! my favorite IDF radio code.)
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To: MtnClimber

Finally. A nebula that sort of looks like what it is named after.


6 posted on 09/03/2025 2:56:43 PM PDT by Bernard (Issue an annual budget. And Issue a federal government balance sheet. Let's see what we got.)
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