PULSAR IN KES 73 IMAGE: This image of supernova remnant Kes 73 was taken on 
March 16 - 17, 1992 using the High Resolution Imager instrument on board the German 
ROSAT spacecraft. It is the remains of a star that was destroyed in a cataclysmic 
explosion known as a supernova approximately 2,000 years ago. The core of the star 
collapsed to become the pulsar, while its outer layers were blown off and now make up 
the supernova remnant. This is a false color image of X-ray light emitted from both the 
pulsar and its surrounding supernovae remnant. Orange and red represent the lowest 
intensities, blue represents higher intensities, and white identifies the location of the 
pulsar in the center of the remnant. Most young, isolated pulsars rotate about 100 times 
per second. This pulsar is young and isolated as well, but it is rotating unusually slowly, 
about once every twelve seconds. This is a mystery, because it should have taken greater 
than 15 billion years to slow down this much. Astronomers speculate that it may have an 
extremely intense magnetic field, up to 100 trillion times the strength of Earth's field. 
The drag produced by the interaction of this fantastically powerful magnetic field with 
hot, electrically charged gas in the supernova remnant may be what has slowed this pulsar 
down so quickly. (Photo Credit: Dr. Eric V. Gotthelf/NASA Goddard Space Flight 
Center)