Categories: AstronomyChandra

A New View of Kepler’s Supernova Remnant

NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory has created this amazing image of one of the youngest supernova remnants in the galaxy. The supernova that created it blazed in the sky more than 400 years ago, before the telescope had even been invented. No problem, though, it was bright enough that you didn’t need a telescope – it reached the brightness of Jupiter at its peak. And one of the greatest astronomers in history, Johannes Kepler was there to see it.

Now 400 years, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory has turned back to image Kepler’s Supernova Remnant, and this is what it saw. The photograph was made by combining more than 9 days of Chandra observing time into a single X-ray image.

Before these observations, the object was a bit of a mystery. There seem to be large quantities of iron, and no detectable neutron star – that would indicate a Type Ia supernova, where a white dwarf explodes after consuming a certain amount of material from a companion star.

But optical light showed that the object is expanding into a cloud of dense material rich in nitrogen. That would indicate that it was a Type II supernova, where a single massive star sloughs off layers of material before detonating.

The new observations from Chandra helped solve the mystery. Astronomers calculated the relative amounts of oxygen and iron in the debris cloud, and determined that it resulted from a Type Ia supernova. It might also be a rare variety of prompt Type Ia explosions, which detonate in only 100 million years, and not billions of years after they form as white dwarfs.

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast with Dr. Pamela Gay. Here's a link to my Mastodon account.

Recent Posts

Hubble and Webb are the Dream Team. Don't Break Them Up

Many people think of the James Webb Space Telescope as a sort of Hubble 2.…

6 hours ago

Scientists Have Figured out why Martian Soil is so Crusty

On November 26th, 2018, NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport (InSight)…

14 hours ago

Another Way to Extract Energy From Black Holes?

Black holes are incredible powerhouses, but they might generate even more energy thanks to an…

19 hours ago

Plastic Waste on our Beaches Now Visible from Space, Says New Study

According to the United Nations, the world produces about 430 million metric tons (267 U.S.…

2 days ago

Future Space Telescopes Could be Made From Thin Membranes, Unrolled in Space to Enormous Size

As we saw with JWST, it's difficult and expensive to launch large telescope apertures, relying…

2 days ago

Voyager 1 is Forced to Rely on its Low Power Radio

Voyager 1 was launched waaaaaay back in 1977. I would have been 4 years old…

3 days ago