What could shoot out a neutron star like a cannon ball? A supernova. About 10,000 years ago, the
supernova that created the nebular remnant
CTB 1 not only destroyed a massive star but blasted its newly formed
neutron star core -- a pulsar -- out into the Milky Way Galaxy.
The pulsar, spinning 8.7 times a second, was
discovered using downloadable software
Einstein@Home searching through data taken by NASA's orbiting
Fermi Gamma-Ray Observatory. Traveling over 1,000 kilometers per second, the
pulsar PSR J0002+6216 (J0002 for short) has already left the supernova remnant CTB 1, and is even
fast enough to leave our Galaxy.
Pictured, the trail of the
pulsar is visible extending to the lower left of the supernova remnant. The
featured image is a combination of radio images from the VLA and DRAO
radio observatories, as well as data archived from NASA's orbiting
IRAS infrared observatory. It is well known that supernovas can act as cannons, and even that
pulsars can act as cannonballs -- what is not known is how supernovas do it.
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