Credit: A. K. H. Kong et al., 2002,
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 580, Issue 2, pp. L125-L128
A Supernova Beyond the Milky Way
Beautiful X-ray images of
supernova remnants (the shocked hot gas produced by exploded stars) have
been obtained inside the Milky Way. But what does a supernova remnant look like
in an external galaxy? The Chandra X-ray
observatory, with its extraordinary ability to resolve distant objects, has
provided the first image of of a supernova in an external galaxy. The image
above is a "true-color" Chandra/ACIS X-ray
picture of a supernova remnant named CXOM31 J004327.7+411829 in the Andromeda
Galaxy, M31. In this image color stands for X-ray energy: red represents low
energy X-rays from "cool" material (only a few million degrees), green
represents medium energy X-rays from "warm" material, while blue represents the
highest energy X-rays from the hottest material (near 20 million degrees). This
supernova remnant is about 136 light years in diameter, and is between
3210-22,300 years old.
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Page Author: Dr. Michael F. Corcoran
Last modified December 9, 2002
