a-snv12-00100← Collection
images
Supernova remnant 0540-69.3 in Dorado
- Reference
- a-snv12-00100
- Date
- 2006-10-26
The X-Ray image of SNR 0540-69.3 taken by Chandra space telescope shows two aspects of the enormous power released when a massive star explodes. An implosion crushed material into an extremely dense neutron star, triggering an explosion that sent a shock wave rumbling through space at speeds in excess of 5 million miles per hour.The image reveals a central intense white blaze of high-energy particles about 3 light years across created by the rapidly rotating neutron star, or pulsar. Surrounding the white blaze is a shell of hot gas 40 light years in diameter that marks the outward progress of the supernova shock wave.
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