Chandra Release - July 10, 2007

Visual Description: RCW 103

This is a Chandra X-ray Observatory image of a supernova remnant named RCW 103, which has a bright blue dot in the center. The large dot is surrounded by shades of lighter blue, green, orange and yellow, creating an eye-catching contrast against the black background. The overall structure of the remnant is spherical and somewhat mottled in texture. When stars are more massive than about 8 times the Sun, they end their lives in a spectacular explosion called a supernova. The outer layers of the star are hurtled out into space at millions of miles per hour, leaving a debris field of gas and dust. Where the star once was located, a small, incredibly dense object called a neutron star is often found. While only 10 miles or so across, the tightly packed neutrons in such a star contain more mass than the entire Sun.  In Chandra's image, the colors of red, green, and blue are mapped to low, medium, and high-energy X-rays. At the center, the bright blue dot is likely the neutron star that astronomers believe formed when the star exploded.