by APOD Robot » Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:05 am
Fast Gas Bullet from Cosmic Blast N49
Explanation: What is that strange blue blob on the far right? No one is sure, but it might be a speeding remnant of a
powerful supernova that was unexpectedly lopsided. Scattered debris from supernova explosion N49 lights up the sky in
this gorgeous composited image based on data from the
Chandra and
Hubble Space Telescopes. Glowing
visible filaments, shown in yellow, and
X-ray hot gas, shown in blue, span about 30 light-years in our neighboring galaxy, the
Large Magellanic Cloud. Light from the original exploding star reached Earth thousands of years ago, but
N49 also marks the location of another energetic outburst -- an extremely intense
blast of gamma-rays detected by satellites about 30 years ago on 1979 March 5. The source of the
March 5th Event is now attributed to a
magnetar - a highly magnetized, spinning
neutron star also born in the ancient stellar explosion which created
supernova remnant N49. The
magnetar, visible near the top of the image, hurtles through the
supernova debris cloud at over 70 thousand kilometers per hour. The blue blob on the far right, however, might have been
expelled asymmetrically just as a massive star was exploding. If so, it now appears to be moving over 7 million kilometers per hour.
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[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100630.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_100630.jpg[/img] [size=150]Fast Gas Bullet from Cosmic Blast N49[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] What is that strange blue blob on the far right? No one is sure, but it might be a speeding remnant of a [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091025.html]powerful supernova[/url] that was unexpectedly lopsided. Scattered debris from supernova explosion N49 lights up the sky in [url=http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2010/n49/]this gorgeous composited image[/url] based on data from the [url=http://chandra.harvard.edu/about/top_ten.html]Chandra[/url] and [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap021124.html]Hubble[/url] Space Telescopes. Glowing [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visible_spectrum]visible filaments[/url], shown in yellow, and [url=http://health.howstuffworks.com/x-ray.htm]X-ray[/url] hot gas, shown in blue, span about 30 light-years in our neighboring galaxy, the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081219.html]Large Magellanic Cloud[/url]. Light from the original exploding star reached Earth thousands of years ago, but [url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/05/25/crazy-violent-explosion-shoots-out-two-cosmic-bullets/]N49 also[/url] marks the location of another energetic outburst -- an extremely intense [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_gamma_repeater]blast of gamma-rays[/url] detected by satellites about 30 years ago on 1979 March 5. The source of the [url=http://solomon.as.utexas.edu/~duncan/magnetar.html#March5]March 5th Event[/url] is now attributed to a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetar]magnetar[/url] - a highly magnetized, spinning [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT2wkbPfUYc]neutron star[/url] also born in the ancient stellar explosion which created [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova_remnant]supernova remnant[/url] N49. The [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAivxup_Sd4]magnetar[/url], visible near the top of the image, hurtles through the [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOn7MNA_A1k]supernova[/url] debris cloud at over 70 thousand kilometers per hour. The blue blob on the far right, however, might have been [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova#Asymmetry]expelled asymmetrically[/url] just as a massive star was exploding. If so, it now appears to be moving over 7 million kilometers per hour.
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