The US space agency NASA, in an Instagram post, published a photo of the 300-year-old remnant formed from the supernova explosion of a massive star located 11,000 light-years from Earth. He also explains how the eruption of Cassiopeia A was captured in its glory using three observatories.
A supernova, or stellar explosion, is the largest explosion in space, according to the space agency’s website.
When NASA uploaded the photo to Instagram, the comments section was filled with people appreciating the beauty and color combination the space agency calls the “scape of color”. The post got over 1.3 million likes.
From describing it as the most beautiful photo they have ever seen to wishing it were visible in the sky, netizens absolutely love the captivating photo.
According to the post, the different colors in the image provide different details captured by each observatory, providing astronomers with a comprehensive view of Cas A.
Blue and green are X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the gases are exposed to temperatures of about 10 million degrees Celsius. According to NASA, “This hot gas was likely created when material ejected by a supernova hit the surrounding gas and dust at a speed of about 10 million miles per hour.”
Red is infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope and shows warm dust in the ‘exosphere with a temperature of about 10°C’. Yellow is optical data from NASA’s Hubble Telescope and shows the “fine filament structure” of warm gas at “about 10,000 °C”.
Spin, make it spin, in this kaleidoscope world
The remnants of a 300-year-old supernova explosion, Cassiopeia A (Cas A), bloom in this composite image released by NASA.
Credit: Instagram/NASA pic.twitter.com/1o51LhTuvg
– Thoughts~ (@BlobThoughts0) August 2, 2021
The blue and green colors represent X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory and show the gas at a temperature of about 10 million degrees Celsius. According to NASA: “This hot gas was likely created when the material ejected by the supernova collided with the surrounding gas and dust at a speed of about 10 million miles per hour.”
“Comparison of images will help astronomers determine whether most of the dust in the supernova remnant comes from the massive star before it exploded, or from the ejection of a rapidly expanding supernova,” NASA said.
#astronomy today’s picture
Cassiopeia Ahttps://t.co/ZB40Csj2HB pic.twitter.com/mZfKeGow8N– Today in Rush History (@RushHistory2112) January 23, 2021
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