Spectroscopy and 3D imaging of the Crab nebula
Abstract
Spectroscopy of the Crab nebula along different slit directions reveals the 3 dimensional structure of the optical nebula. On the basis of the linear radial expansion result first discovered by Trimble (1968), we make a 3D model of the optical emission. Results from a limited number of slit directions suggest that optical lines originate from a complicated array of wisps that are located in a rather thin shell, pierced by a jet. The jet is certainly not prominent in optical emission lines, but the direction of the piercing is consistent with the direction of the X-ray and radio jet. The shell's effective radius is ~ 79 seconds of arc, its thickness about a third of the radius and it is moving out with an average velocity 1160 km/s.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0403153,
title = {Spectroscopy and 3D imaging of the Crab nebula},
author = {Andrej Cadez and Alberto Carraminana and Simon Vidrih},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0403153},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
21 pages, 14 figures, submitted to ApJ, 3D movie of the Crab nebula available at http://www.fiz.uni-lj.si/~vidrih/