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Explanation: Massive stars in our Milky Way Galaxy live spectacular lives. Collapsing from vast cosmic clouds, their nuclear furnaces ignite and create heavy elements in their cores. After a few million years, the enriched material is blasted back into interstellar space where star formation can begin anew. The expanding debris cloud known as Cassiopeia A is an example of this final phase of the stellar life cycle. Light from the explosion which created this supernova remnant would have been first seen in planet Earth's sky about 350 years ago, although it took that light about 11,000 years to reach us. This false-color image, composed of X-ray and optical image data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope, shows the still hot filaments and knots in the remnant. It spans about 30 light-years at the estimated distance of Cassiopeia A. High-energy X-ray emission from specific elements has been color coded, silicon in red, sulfur in yellow, calcium in green and iron in purple, to help astronomers explore the recycling of our galaxy's star stuff. Still expanding, the outer blast wave is seen in blue hues. The bright speck near the center is a neutron star, the incredibly dense, collapsed remains of the massive stellar core.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
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& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Cas A - supernova remnant
Publications with words: Cas A - supernova remnant
See also:
- APOD: 2023 November 21 Á Flemings Triangular Wisp
- APOD: 2023 October 18 Á Dust and the Western Veil Nebula
- APOD: 2023 August 6 Á SN 1006: A Supernova Ribbon from Hubble
- APOD: 2023 April 24 Á The Medulla Nebula Supernova Remnant
- RCW 86: Historical Supernova Remnant
- The Gum Nebula Supernova Remnant
- The Gum Nebula over Snowy Mountains