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Optical & X-ray Views of McNeil's Nebula
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This sequence leads the viewer from a ground-based optical view around
McNeil's Nebula through to Chandra's up-close X-ray image. It begins
with the picture of the region that amateur astronomer Jay McNeil took
with his 3-inch telescope, which led to the discovery of the nebula (and
hence the name). The images then proceed to increasingly smaller
optical views of the nebula and its immediate environment. The sequence
ends by showing Chandra's observation of the source at the apex of
McNeil's Nebula, which was seen to flare in X-rays. The X-ray data
suggest the outburst was caused by an infall of material onto the star's
surface from an orbiting disk of gas.
[Run Time: 0:25]
(Credit:
Optical, wide-fields: Jay McNeil
Optical, close-up: NSF/NOAO/KPNO/A.Block et al.
X-ray: NASA/CXC/RIT/J.Kastner et al.)
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