+, Collapsed Star, Infrared
+ shows the dusty remains of a collapsed star. Scientists think the stars in the image are part of a stellar cluster in which the a supernova exploded. The material ejected in the explosion is now blowing past these stars at high velocities. The image of + shows data from Spitzer in green. A source near the center of the image is a dense, rapidly rotating neutron star, left behind after a core-collapse supernova explosion. The pulsar generates a wind of high-energy particles that expands into the surrounding environment, illuminating the material ejected in the supernova explosion. The infrared shell that surrounds the pulsar wind is made up of gas and dust that condensed out of debris from the supernova. As the cold dust expands into the surroundings, it is heated and lit up by the stars in the cluster so that it is observable in the infrared. The dust closest to the stars is the hottest and is seen to glow in yellow in the image. The unique environment into which this supernova exploded makes it possible for astronomers to observe the condensed dust from the supernova that is usually too cold to emit in the infrared. Release date March 29, 2010.
Size: 3600px × 3547px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 2010, 21st, astronomical, astronomy, body, burst, celestial, century, cluster, collapsed, deep, exploding, explosion, +, heavenly, image, infrared, neutron, object, pulsar, radiation, remnant, rotating, science, short, sky, sn, snr, space, star, stellar, supernova, wavelength
