The Jellyfish Nebula, One of Nature’s Particle Accelerators

Brian Humensky (NASA – GSFC)

The Jellyfish Nebula is a supernova remnant resulting from the explosion of a massive star. Its expanding shock wave accelerates cosmic rays, highly energetic charged particles that play a major role in shaping our Galaxy (and impact our world in various minor ways). Today, we see that shock wave interacting with clouds of gas left over from the star’s birth. We can study this fascinating nebula from the radio to the optical to very-high-energy gamma rays, learning about the structure and dynamics of the nebula, the acceleration of cosmic rays at its shocks, and even clues about the nature of the progenitor star.