HISTORIC! NASA’s IXPE captures Crab Nebula like never before
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The Crab Nebula has been part of several studies by astronomers. It began back on February 22, 1971, when a sounding rocket took off carrying specialized sensors directed towards the Crab Nebula from Wallops Island, Virginia. Later on, Martin Weisskopf, an astronomer, suggested the creation of an Earth-orbiting satellite, equipped with advanced instruments to obtain more comprehensive data on the Crab Nebula and other enigmatic cosmic entities. This idea eventually emerged with NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), which was launched on December 9, 2021.Following over five decades since the sounding rocket trial, scientists have used IXPE to produce a comprehensive and intricate depiction of the Crab Nebula's magnetic field, revealing more about its inner mechanics th...