Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO
Resolving Important Astrophysical Issues
The supernova remnant N132D is about 180,000 light years from Earth in the Large Magellanic
Cloud, and its probably about 3000 years old. The image above was
obtained by the High
Resolution Camera (HRC) on the Chandra X-ray Observatory, after a pass through an edge detection
algorithm to resolve sharp detail. The original image
is available at the Chandra web site. The Chandra X-ray image shows a
highly structured shell of 10 million degree gas that is 80 light years
across. The N132D supernova remnant appears to be colliding with a giant
molecular cloud (which is too cold to be seen in the Chandra image), which produces the brightening on rim of the remnant at
the bottom of the image. The relatively weak X-radiation on the upper left
shows that the shock wave is expanding into a less dense region on the edge
of the molecular cloud. A number of small circular structures are visible
in the central regions and a hint of a large circular loop can be seen in
the upper part of the remnant. The unprecedented spatial detail provided by
the HRC image allows astrophysicists the opportunity to model in detail
the interaction of the supernova ejecta with the circumstellar medium and
study in detail how supernovae create and distribute chemical
elements into their galactic neighborhood. Unfortunately the HRC suffered an electrical glitch in February 2022, which caused a pause in operations while scientists and engineers pinpoint the cause of the problem. New tests give hope that observations with the HRC will be restored in time for the next round of Chandra observations.
Published: September 12, 2022
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Page Author: Dr. Michael F. Corcoran
Last modified Monday, 26-Feb-2024 17:46:11 EST