X-ray & Optical Images of SXP 1062
In these images, X-rays from Chandra and XMM-Newton have been combined with optical data from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. A newly-discovered pulsar, known as SXP 1062, is the bright white source located on the right-hand side of the image in the middle of the diffuse blue emission. The X-ray data reveal that SXP 1062 is rotating unusually slowly -- about once every 18 minutes. The optical data on the left side of the image show spectacular regions of gas and dust where stars are forming. This would be the first definite time a pulsar, a spinning, ultra-dense star, has been found in a supernova remnant in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy to the Milky Way.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al & ESA/XMM-Newton; Optical: AURA/NOAO/CTIO/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al )