Astronomy Picture of the Day
Posted By admin On February 11, 2011 @ 11:15 pm In Photo Essays | Comments Disabled
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day [1]
[2]
Simeis 147: Supernova Remnant
Credit & Copyright [3]: Nobuhiko Miki [4]
Explanation: It’s easy to get lost following the intricate filaments in this detailed mosaic image [5] of faint supernova remnant [6] Simeis 147. Also cataloged as Sh2-240 and seen towards [7] the constellation Taurus [8], it covers nearly 3 degrees (6 full moons) on the sky. That corresponds to a width of 150 light-years at the stellar debris cloud’s estimated distance of 3,000 light-years. The remarkable composite includes image data taken through narrow-band filters to highlight emission from hydrogen and oxygen atoms tracing regions of shocked, glowing gas [9]. This supernova remnant has an estimated age of about 40,000 years – meaning light from the massive stellar explosion first reached Earth 40,000 years ago. But this expanding remnant is not the only aftermath [10]. The cosmic catastrophe also left behind [11] a spinning neutron star or pulsar,all that remains [12] of the original star’s core.
Article printed from Recorder Online: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com
URL to article: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/02/11/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-9/
URLs in this post:
[1] Astronomy Pictures of the Day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
[2] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SH2_240_NobuhikoMiki.jpg
[3] Copyright: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
[4] Nobuhiko Miki: http://www.miki-hosp.or.jp/BIND/index.html
[5] detailed mosaic image: http://www.miki-hosp.or.jp/BIND/pg147.html
[6] supernova remnant: http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/supernovas.html
[7] seen towards: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101220.html
[8] Taurus: http://www.allthesky.com/constellations/taurus/
[9] shocked, glowing gas: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090108.html
[10] aftermath: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap011026.html
[11] also left behind: http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0611068
[12] all that remains: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1996/22/astrofile/#2
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