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PSR J0357+3205 in 60 Seconds
Narrator (April Hobart, CXC): A
spinning neutron star is tied to a mysterious tail, or is it? Astronomers using NASA's Chandra
X-ray Observatory have found a long, X-ray bright tail streaming away from the pulsar
known as PSR J0357. The tail appears to stretch for over 4 light years from behind the pulsar,
which would make it the longest one ever seen trailing behind this type of pulsar. However,
as is often the case in astronomy, things are not quite so simple. The amount of energy
being lost from the pulsar doesn't seem to account for all of the material seen in the
tail. Also, the brightest portion of the tail is not actually near the pulsar, which scientists
would expect. So scientists plan on looking at PSR J0357 more in the future with Chandra
and other telescopes, and hope that even more data will help them pin down what is happening
in this intriguing object.