N 63A: Spitzer Space Telescope

Spitzer has imaged the supernova remnant, N 63A, at infrared wavelengths. Using the IRAC detector, the image shows infrared emission at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), 8.0 (red) microns.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Y.-H. Chu (UIUC)

Spitzer, Chandra, CTIO Image of N 63A - Wide Field

A color composite of Spitzer infrared, Chandra X-ray and ground-based Halpha. The color assignments are: Chandra (all bands) (blue), CTIO ground-based H-alpha (green), Spitzer 4.5 micron (yellow) and Spitzer 8.0 micron (red).

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/CXC/NOAO/AURA/NSF

CTIO Image of a Portion of the LMC-4 Superbubble

An image of the Supergiant Shell LMC-4 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, taken with the Curtis Schmidt telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) as part of the Magellanic Clouds Emission Line Survey (MCELS).


Credit: S. Points, C. Smith, R. Leiton, and C. Aguilera/NOAO/AURA/NSF and Z. Levay (STScI)

Chandra 3-Color X-ray Image of N 63A

Chandra's image of N63A shows material heated to about ten million degrees Celsius by a shock wave generated by the supernova explosion. The fluffy crescent-shaped X-ray features that appear around the edge of the remnant are thought to be fragments of high-speed matter shot out from the star when it exploded, like shrapnel from a bomb. The colors red, green and blue in the image correspond to low, medium and high-energy X-rays, respectively.

Credit: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/J.Warren et al.

N 63A: Chandra and Hubble

X-rays from Chandra (blue), combined with optical (green) and radio (red) data, reveal new details in LMC N 63A. The X-ray glow is from material heated by a shock wave generated by the supernova explosion. The age of the remnant is estimated to be in the range of 2,000 to 5,000 years.

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/J.Warren et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI/U. Ill/Y.Chu; Radio: ATCA/U. Ill/J.Dickel et al.

Multi-filter Animation
Of N 63A

The Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) was used to obtain images of a violent and chaotic-looking mass of gas and dust known as N 63A. The dissolve sequence builds from a Spitzer telescope infrared image of the area, adding the Chandra X-ray image, and the Hubble visible-light images, which dissolves to the Hubble composite of the beautiful supernova remnant.