Artist's impression of pulsar wind from a neutron star

This is an illustration of a pulsar wind nebula produced by the interaction of the outflow particles from the neutron star with gaseous material in the interstellar medium that the neutron star is plowing through. Such an infrared-only pulsar wind nebula is unusual because it implies a rather low energy of the particles accelerated by the pulsar’s intense magnetic field. This hypothesised model would explain the unusual infrared signature of the neutron star RX J0806.4-4123 as detected by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Links:

• NASA Press Release
• Artist's impression of disc around a neutron star
• Hubble sees an unusual neutron star