HST and Chandra Movies of the Crab Nebula

Results of coordinated Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope images of the Crab synchrotron nebula were released in a Space Science Update on September 19, 2002. The release presents moves of the interior of the Crab made using the two observatories. The Astrophysical Journal Letters Paper appeared in the September 20, 2002 issue.

The Movies:

The Hubble Space Telescope movie of the Crab Nebula, consisting of 23 frames taken on 11 day intervals over the course of 8 months. (16.8 Mb)

The Chandra X-ray movie of the Crab, consisting of 7 frames taken on 22 day intervals over the course of 5 months. (9.2 Mb)

The Chandra visits were scheduled to occur within 1 day of HST visits. This movie shows the Chandra observations and the corresponding HST observations side by side. (17.9 Mb)

The apparent motions of the equatorial wisps are affected by light travel delays caused by the relativistic motions of these features. This movie shows a 3-D model of wisp motions superposed on the Chandra movie. (51.9 Mb)

(The movies are large, courtesy of the relatively dumb code used to combine image files to make the movies.)