In blue, visible light from the Crab Nebulam seen by
the Hubble Space Telescope. This comes from emissions of gases in the
nebula, which are energised by the neutron star at the centre. In red,
far infrared light seen by the Herschel Space Observatory. This comes
mainly from cold dust and gas.
Noble gas molecules have been detected in space for the first time in the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant, by astronomers at UCL. Watch a video explaining the findings Led by Professor Mike Barlow (UCL Physics & Astronomy) the team used ESA's Herschel Space Observatory to observe the Crab Nebula in far infrared light. Their measurements of regions of cold gas and dust led them to the serendipitous discovery of the chemical fingerprint of argon hydride ions, published today . The findings support scientists' theories of how argon forms in nature. The Herschel Space Observatory, an ESA space telescope which recently completed its mission, is the biggest space telescope ever to have flown. Herschel's instruments were designed to detect far-infrared light, which has much longer wavelengths than we can see with our eyes. "We were doing a survey of the dust in several bright supernova remnants using Herschel, one of which was the Crab Nebula.
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