NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed important details of J0617, a neutron star that is spewing out a wake of high-energy particles as it speeds through space. The deduced location of the neutron star on the edge of a supernova remnant, and the peculiar orientation of the neutron star wake are two mysteries that have yet to be solved by astronomers.

The neutron star, known as CXOU J061705.3+222127, or J0617 for short, appears to lie near the outer edge of an expanding bubble of hot gas associated with the supernova remnant IC 443. It is presumed that J0617 was created about 30,000 years ago at the time of the supernova, and propelled away from explosion site at 500,000 miles per hour. However, the wake appears to be moving away from the center of the supernova remnant. The misalignment raised doubt about the link of the neutron star with the supernova remnant.

Bryan Gaensler of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, MA and his colleagues have strong evidence that J0617 was born in the same explosion that created the supernova remnant:

First, the shape of the neutron star's wake indicates it is moving a little faster than the speed of sound in the remnant's multimillion-degree gas. The velocity that one can then calculate from this conclusion closely matches the predicted pace of the neutron star. In contrast, if the neutron star were outside the confines of the remnant, its inferred speed would be a sluggish 20,000 miles per hour. Also, the measured temperature of the neutron star matches that of one born at the same time of the supernova remnant.

If that's the case, what then could be causing the misalignment? Gaensler speculates that the doomed progenitor star was moving at a high speed prior to explosion, hence the neutron star was born off-center. Cross-winds might have just pushed the wake further away from the supernova remnant.