Key facts
- Scale fact
- 20 kmdiameter
- Estimated age
- ~970 years
- Composition
- Neutron-degenerate matter
Crab Pulsar
20 kmdiameter
Visual creditscaleofspace.org / CC BY-NC 4.0
Details
The Crab Pulsar is the neutron-star core left behind by the explosion that also created the Crab Nebula. It spins about 30 times each second, and its magnetic engine drives much of the nebula’s glow by pouring particles and radiation into the surrounding wreckage.
The Crab Pulsar is the roughly 20-kilometer neutron-star core left by the supernova recorded in 1054. It rotates about 30 times per second, sweeping beams of radiation past Earth and making it one of the few pulsars detectable at visible wavelengths.
Its rotating magnetic field drives a wind of relativistic particles into the surrounding Crab Nebula. Shocks in that wind produce much of the nebula’s synchrotron glow and the moving rings and wisps seen near its center.
Links
- Editorial guides
- Wikipedia
- Crab Pulsar on Wikipedia
- Universe journey
- Orion Arm
Size neighbors
Objects near Crab Pulsar on the scale
On the logarithmic size axis, Crab Pulsar falls between 951 Gaspra and Phobos. The band uses nearby Stellar remnants records.
Shared physical scale
8,617km
Sources
References for Crab Pulsar
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- Crab Pulsar — Wikipedia
- Visual: scaleofspace.org / CC BY-NC 4.0
Continue with nearby objects or open the full scale.
About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.