File:Cassiopeia A- Elemental Image Of Exploded Star (2000-cas a062700 - casa300 2).tiff

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Captions

Captions

A new 14 hour Chandra observation of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A has given the best map yet of heavy elements ejected in a supernova explosion.

Summary

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Description
English: A new 14 hour Chandra observation of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A has given the best map yet of heavy elements ejected in a supernova explosion. Upper left: Broadband X-ray image of Cassiopeia A (Cas A) Upper right: Image made by X rays from silicon ions. Lower left: Image made by X rays from calcium ions. Lower right: Image made by X rays from iron ions. All images are 8.5 arc minutes on a side (corresponding to 28.2 light years at a distance of 11,000 light years). These images are designed to show the distribution of some of the elements ejected in the explosion that produced Cas A. The elements are part of a gas that has a temperature of about 50 million degrees Celsius. The colors represent intensity of X rays, with yellow the most intense, then red, purple, and green. The broadband image, which shows all the X rays detected from Cas A, is more symmetric than the others. This could be due to the presence of X rays from synchrotron radiation by extremely high-energy particles spiraling in the magnetic field of the remnant, or to shock waves traveling through material puffed off thousands of years before the supernova. The silicon image shows a bright, broad jet breaking out of the upper left side of the remnant, and faint streamers in an opposite direction. This jet could be due to an asymmetry in the explosion. The calcium image is similar to the silicon image, but less bright and clumpier. The iron image shows significant differences from other images. Since iron is the heaviest element shown, these maps support the suggestion that the layers of the star were overturned either before or during the explosion.
Date 27 June 2000 (upload date)
Source Cassiopeia A: Elemental Image Of Exploded Star
Author NASA/GSFC/U.Hwang et al.
Other versions
Also Known As
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Cas A
Category
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Supernovas & Supernova Remnants
Color Code
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Colors represent different energy bands
Constellation
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Cassiopeia
Coordinates (J2000)
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RA 23h 23m 26.7s
Distance Estimate
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11,000 light years
Observation Date(s)
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January 30 - 31, 2000
Observation ID(s)
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114
Observation Time
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14 hours
Scale
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Image is 8.5 arcmin across.
Instruments
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ACIS
This media is a product of the
Chandra X-ray Observatory
Credit and attribution belongs to the Chandra X-ray Center, NASA/SAO/Penn State University/MIT

Licensing

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Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
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current16:07, 15 June 2024Thumbnail for version as of 16:07, 15 June 20242,263 × 2,263 (2.71 MB)OptimusPrimeBot (talk | contribs)#Spacemedia - Upload of https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2000/cas_a062700/casa300_2.tif via Commons:Spacemedia

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