Category: Chandra

This absolutely beautiful object has a big of a bizarre name: G292.0+1.8. But don’t let that astronomical jargon throw you, you’re looking at a supernova remnant, captured by NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory and ground-based observatories. It’s considered a textbook example of what remains after a massive star blows itself apart as a supernova. But it’s got a few surprises too.

Near the core of G292.0+1.8 is a pulsar wind nebula, revealed by the X-rays pouring out of it. This is the magnetized bubble of high energy particles that surround the rapidly spinning pulsar at the heart of the nebula. The pulsar is all that remains of the star before it detonated as a supernova.

Here’s one of the surprises. Instead of being right at the centre of the nebula, the pulsar is located slightly below and to the left. It possible that the supernova explosion was lopsided, and the recoil sent the pulsar shooting off to its current location. That would be a fine explanation, except the kick direction and pulsar spin direction aren’t aligned like you would expect.

Another interesting feature is that long white line running across the centre of the remnant called the equatorial belt. Imagine this is ring of material that unraveled from the star as it was coming apart. Once again, the orientation of this belt suggests that the parent star had the same spin axis before and after it exploded.

Astronomers find it puzzling that the remnant is missing thin filaments of high energy X-ray emission. These are thought to be a source of cosmic ray acceleration, and have been seen in many other well known supernova remnants. It’s possible that G292.0+1.8 is just too old now, and that stage only happens when the remnant is young.

Original Source: Chandra News Release

Here are two images of supernova remnants, made with combined data from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton. For both of these images, XMM-Newton captured the wider field view, while Chandra focused in on key regions of interest to researchers.

The orange object on the right is RCW 86, one of the earliest supernovae ever recorded. Historians think that explosion of the central coincides with observations made by Chinese and Roman astronomers in 185 AD. Under the combined view of Chandra and XMM-Newton, you can see the expanding ring of debris that was created after massive star detonated.

The other object is G347.3-0.5; it was also observed by the Chinese in 393 AD. The exploding star was so bright, it was said to have blazed for months, and rivaled Jupiter in brilliance. The point source in the lower section of the image is probably the original neutron star; all that remains after the massive star’s core collapsed.

In both Chandra and XMM-Newton, the intensity of X-rays is represented by the brightness of the colour.

Original Source:Chandra News Release

When a star with at least 8 times the mass of our Sun detonates as a supernova, it leaves behind a neutron star. This tiny object has the mass of a star, but it’s compressed down to a ball only 10 km (6 miles) across – its protons and electrons have been compressed together to form neutrons. One of these objects has puzzled astronomers for years, but now researchers think they’ve found the solution: it’s got a friend.

New data gathered by NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory is helping to explain the mystery in RCW 103. This supernova remnant, located 10,000 light-years away, detonated about 2,000 years ago (I know, that means it really exploded 12,000 years ago). The bright blue dot at the centre of the image is the neutron star, blasting out X-ray radiation.

The problem with this neutron star is that only rotates once every 6.7 hours. That sounds fast, but there are neutron stars out there that can rotate many times a second. It should be turning much faster.

One possible answer for the mystery is that the original star that detonated, leaving this remnant wasn’t alone. It might have had a much lower-mass companion which still remains. It was the magnetic field interaction between the neutron star and the low-mass companion slowed down its rotation.

Original Source:Chandra

The death watch is on for Eta Carinae, a relatively nearby massive star that’s set to explode as a supernova. The Chandra X-Ray Observatory delivered this beautiful photograph of the star and its surrounding nebula; layers of material that it’s already shed in its death throes.

When it does explode, Eta Carinae is going to be spectacular. It’s thought to have between 100 and 150 times the mass of our own Sun. Not only that, it’s a mere 7,500 light years away. Its brilliant display of fireworks will rival the light of the full Moon, and should be easy to see in the middle of the day; you could read a book by it at night.

So when’s it going to blow? Well, astronomers disagree on this point. The majority think that Eta Carinae has one final stage to go through, called a Wolf-Rayet star. Others think it’s already passed this stage, and it’s ready to go. It could explode tomorrow, or it could be 100,000 years away. Still, that’s a blink of the eye cosmically speaking.

Original Source: Chandra News Release