Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2019 August 1

                          Elements in the Aftermath
                         Image Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO

   Explanation: Massive stars spend their brief lives furiously burning
   nuclear fuel. Through fusion at extreme temperatures and densities
   surrounding the stellar core, nuclei of light elements like Hydrogen and
   Helium are combined to heavier elements like Carbon, Oxygen, etc. in a
   progression which ends with Iron. So a supernova explosion, a massive
   star's inevitable and spectacular demise, blasts back into space debris
   enriched in heavier elements to be incorporated into other stars and
   planets and people). This detailed false-color x-ray image from the
   orbiting Chandra Observatory shows such a hot, expanding stellar debris
   cloud about 36 light-years across. Cataloged as G292.0+1.8, this young
   supernova remnant is about 20,000 light-years distant toward the
   southern constellation Centaurus. Light from the inital supernova
   explosion reached Earth an estimated 1,600 years ago. Bluish colors
   highlight filaments of the mulitmillion degree gas which are
   exceptionally rich in Oxygen, Neon, and Magnesium. This enriching
   supernova also produced a pulsar in its aftermath, a rotating neutron
   star remnant of the collapsed stellar core. The stunning image was
   released as part of the 20th anniversary celebration of the Chandra
   X-ray Observatory.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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