Colliding Supernova Remnants
Explanation:
When a massive
star exhausts its nuclear fuel
it explodes.
This stellar detonation,
a supernova,
propels vast amounts of
starstuff outwards,
initially at millions of miles per hour.
For another 100,000 years or so the expanding
supernova remnant
gradually slows as it
sweeps up material and
ultimately merges
with the gas and dust of
interstellar space.
Short lived by cosmic standards, these stellar debris clouds
are relatively rare and valuable objects for astronomers
exploring
the life cycles of stars.
Yet this
double bubble-shaped nebula 160,000 light-years away in
the Large Magellanic Cloud
may represent something rarer still - the collision of two
supernova remnants.
This image in the light of excited Hydrogen atoms along
with images at X-Ray, radio and other optical
wavelengths, suggests that
the bubbles are indeed two separate regions of hot gas surrounded by cooler
dense shells begining to interact as they expand and make contact.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
