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NASA's three Great Observatories --
the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer
Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory
- joined forces to probe the
expanding remains of a supernova, called Kepler's
supernova remnant, first seen
400 years ago by sky watchers, including famous
astronomer Johannes Kepler.
The combined image unveils a bubble-shaped shroud
of gas and dust that is 14
light-years wide and is expanding at 4 million miles
per hour (2,000 kilometers
per second). Observations from each telescope highlight
distinct features of the
supernova remnant, a fast-moving shell of iron-rich
material from the exploded
star, surrounded by an expanding shock wave that
is sweeping up interstellar gas
and dust.
Each color in this image represents a different
region of the electromagnetic spectrum, from X-rays
to infrared light. These diverse colors are shown
in the panel of photographs below the composite
image. The X-ray and infrared data cannot be seen
with the human eye. By color-coding those data and
combining them with Hubble's visible-light view,
astronomers are presenting a more complete picture
of the supernova remnant.
Visible-light images from the Hubble telescope's
Advanced Camera for Surveys
[colored yellow] reveal where the supernova shock
wave is slamming into the
densest regions of surrounding gas.
The bright glowing knots are dense clumps from
instabilities that form behind
the shock wave. The Hubble data also show thin filaments
of gas that look like
rippled sheets seen edge-on. These filaments reveal
where the shock wave is
encountering lower-density, more uniform interstellar
material.
The Spitzer telescope shows microscopic dust particles
[colored red] that have
been heated by the supernova shock wave. The dust
re-radiates the shock wave's
energy as infrared light. The Spitzer data are brightest
in the regions
surrounding those seen in detail by the Hubble telescope.
The Chandra X-ray data show regions of very hot
gas, and extremely high-energy particles. The hottest
gas (higher-energy X-rays, colored blue) is located
primarily in the regions directly behind the shock
front. These regions also show up in the Hubble
observations, and also align with the faint rim
of glowing material seen in the Spitzer data. The
X-rays from the region on the lower left (colored
blue) may be dominated by extremely high-energy
electrons that were produced by the shock wave and
are radiating at radio through X-ray wavelengths
as they spiral in the intensified magnetic field
behind the shock front. Cooler X-ray gas (lower-energy
X-rays, colored green) resides in a thick interior
shell and marks the location of heated material
expelled from the exploded star.
Kepler's supernova, the last such object seen to
explode in our Milky Way
galaxy, resides about 13,000 light-years away in
the constellation Ophiuchus.
The Chandra observations were taken in June 2000,
the Hubble in August 2003; and the Spitzer in August
2004.
Visit
the STScI Press Release on Kepler's Supernova Remnant
Learn More About Johannes
Kepler
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