A 2-light-year-long jet: a guitar-shaped cosmic flamethrower ejects antimatter. What is this? (see photo)

Astronomers from NASA utilized a ground-based telescope at the Palomar Observatory as well as the Chandra space telescope to capture an image of a dead star that formed the "Guitar Nebula." From this "guitar," a powerful and elongated jet of plasma seems to erupt, resembling a flamethrower. This jet contains particles of antimatter, as reported by Live Science.

The "Guitar Nebula" is a massive cloud of gaseous hydrogen located approximately 6,500 light-years away from us. It was created as a result of stellar winds that blow material from the pulsar B2224+65a. This is a rapidly spinning neutron star that formed after the death of a regular massive star. Sometimes, pulsars are referred to as dead stars, although they are actually very active.

As the pulsar moves through space, the mass of material that escapes into the cosmos takes the shape of a recognizable musical instrument when viewed from Earth. However, in reality, it is a chaotic, amorphous mass trailing behind the dead star.

The "Guitar Nebula" was first discovered 29 years ago. Now, scientists have determined that the pulsar rotates at a speed of about 5.7 million km/h. As a result, it also emits a giant energetic jet, similar to a flamethrower, measuring approximately 2 light-years or 19 trillion km in length. The pulsar ejects the jet perpendicular to the "Guitar Nebula," making it appear as though it is emerging from the "musical instrument."

In the new image, visible light is represented in blue, while X-ray light is shown in red. Astronomers from NASA observed the pulsar, jet, and nebula in visible light using the telescope at Palomar Observatory and in X-ray using the Chandra telescope.

The pulsar generates the jet due to its rapid rotation and a strong magnetic field that is thousands of times stronger than Earth's magnetic field. These factors accelerate particles that escape from the poles of the pulsar, which also creates a flow of electromagnetic radiation in the form of X-ray light.

The energy of the pulsar's jets is so high that part of the radiation is converted into matter through Einstein's equation E=mc², which famously demonstrated that matter and energy are two sides of the same coin. When this occurs, energy transforms into pairs of electrons and positrons, which are the antimatter counterparts of electrons.

The particle pairs are expelled into space and travel along massive magnetic field lines that permeate the interstellar medium, which is the matter and radiation existing in the space between stars within a galaxy. If the particles ever collide with one another, they will annihilate each other, as matter and antimatter cannot coexist, converting back into energy.

Although the "Guitar Nebula" and the "flamethrower jet" are not directly connected, changes in the interstellar medium that alter the shape of the nebula also affect the jet's output, scientists from NASA state.