This new image of supernova remnant Puppis A includes data from Chandra and XMM-Newton and is the most complete and detailed X-ray view to date, revealing a delicate tapestry of X-ray light left behind by the supernova explosion.
The destructive results of a powerful supernova explosion reveal themselves in a delicate tapestry of X-ray light, as seen in this image from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton.
The image shows the remains of a supernova that would have been witnessed on Earth about 3,700 years ago. The remnant is called Puppis A, and is around 7,000 light-years away and about 10 light-years across. This image provides the most complete and detailed X-ray view of Puppis A ever obtained, made by combining a mosaic of different Chandra and XMM-Newton observations. Low-energy X-rays are shown in red, medium-energy X-rays are in green, and high-energy X-rays are colored blue.
These observations act as a probe of the gas surrounding Puppis A, known as the interstellar medium. The complex appearance of the remnant shows that Puppis A is expanding into an interstellar medium that probably has a knotty structure.
Supernova explosions forge the heavy elements that can provide the raw material from which future generations of stars and planets will form. Studying how supernova remnants expand into the galaxy and interact with other materials provides critical clues into our own origins.
A paper describing these results was published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The first author is Gloria Dubner from the Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Reference: “The most complete and detailed X-ray view of the SNR Puppis A” by G. Dubner, N. Loiseau, P. Rodriguez-Pascual, M.J.S. Smith, E. Giacani and G. Castelletti, 18 June 2013, Astronomy & Astrophysics.
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201321401
arXiv: 1305.1275
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