Supernova Remnant and Shock Wave
影像提供 Chandra: NASA / CXC / GSFC, U.Hwang et al.; ROSAT: NASA/GSFC/S.Snowden et al.
Explanation:
A massive star ends life as a supernova, blasting its outer layers back to interstellar space. The spectacular death explosion is initiated by the collapse of what has become an impossibly dense stellar core. Pictured is the expanding supernova remnant Puppis A - one of the brightest sources in the x-ray sky. Now seen to be about 10 light-years in diameter, light from the initial stellar explosion first reached Earth a few thousand years ago. Recorded by the Chandra Observatory's x-ray cameras, the inset view shows striking details of the strong shock wave disrupting an interstellar cloud as the shock sweeps through preexisting material. The larger field ROSAT image also captures a pinpoint source of x-rays near the remnant's center. The source is a young neutron star, the remnant of the collapsed stellar core kicked out by the explosion and moving away at about 1,000 kilometers per second.
說明:
重質量的星球走到生命的終點就是形成超新星爆炸，粉粹星星的內部物質，送回原星際物質空間內。 這樣壯觀的死亡爆炸的開始是緊密星核的塌陷。 這張圖片 是超新星 Puppis A 殘骸的擴張雲，是其中一個最亮的 X射線源。 直徑大約是10光年，從最開始爆炸的第一道光到地球就需花數千年的時間。 這是由 錢德拉太空站(Chandra Observatory)的X射線照相機，嵌入的子畫面顯示驚人的細節，當震波通過物質，強烈的震波甚至會嚴重擾動星際雲氣。 有大視野的ROSAT 太空觀測站，也拍攝接近殘骸中心的X射線的點光源 這個點光源是一個年輕的中子星，殘骸繼續以每秒 1,000 公里的速度將物質往外噴發。
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU
