Monogram Nebula N90 and Pulsar SXP1062 Lumbar Cushion

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series: In this composite image, X-rays from Chandra and XMM-Newton have been coloured blue and optical data from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile are coloured red and green. The flowering shape is a star factory and the bright blue star is the pulsar, known as SXP 1062. Astronomers are interested in SXP 1062 because it's spinning unusually slowly - about once every 18 minutes. (In contrast, some pulsars are found to revolve up to 1000 times per second) image code: sxp1062 Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al & ESA/XMM-Newton; Optical: AURA/NOAO/CTIO/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al