Chandra Observations of Outflows from PSR J1509-5850

Understand

PSR J1509-5850 is a middle-aged pulsar with the period P ~ 89 ms, spin-down power Edot = 5.1 x 10^35 erg/s, at a distance of about 3.8 kpc.

• We report on deep Chandra X-ray Observatory observations of this pulsar and its pulsar wind nebula (PWN).
• In addition to the previously detected tail extending up to 7' southwest from the pulsar (the southern outflow), the deep images reveal a similarly long, faint diffuse emission stretched toward the north (the northern outflow) and the fine structure of the compact nebula (CN) in the pulsar vicinity.
• The CN is resolved into two lateral tails and one axial tail pointing southwest (a morphology remarkably similar to that of the Geminga PWN), which supports the assumption that the pulsar moves towards the northeast.