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SNR 0509-67.5: Supernova Bubble Resembles Holiday Ornament
SNR 0509-67.5
SNR 0509-67.5

  • SNR 0509-67.5 is a supernova remnant located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way about 160,000 light years away.

  • A new composite includes a Hubble image of the star field and gas that has been shocked by the expanding blast wave (pink).

  • Chandra data (blue and green) show material in the center of the remnant that has been heated to millions of degrees.

This colorful creation was made by combining data from two of NASA's Great Observatories. Optical data of SNR 0509-67.5 and its accompanying star field, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, are composited with X-ray energies from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The result shows soft green and blue hues of heated material from the X-ray data surrounded by the glowing pink optical shell which shows the ambient gas being shocked by the expanding blast wave from the supernova. Ripples in the shell's appearance coincide with brighter areas of the X-ray data.

The Type 1a supernova that resulted in the creation of SNR 0509-67.5 occurred nearly 400 years ago for Earth viewers. The supernova remnant, and its progenitor star reside in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small galaxy about 160,000 light-years from Earth. The bubble-shaped shroud of gas is 23 light-years across and is expanding at more than 11 million miles per hour (5,000 kilometers per second).

Data from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, taken in 2006 with a filter that isolates light from glowing hydrogen were combined with visible-light images of the surrounding star field that were imaged with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 in 2010. These data were then merged with X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory taken with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) in 2000 and 2007.

Fast Facts for SNR 0509-67.5:
Credit  X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/J.Hughes et al, Optical: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Release Date  December 14, 2010
Scale  Image is 1.2 arcmin across (58 light years across).
Category  Supernovas & Supernova Remnants
Coordinates (J2000)  RA 05h 09m 31.7s | Dec -67° 31´ 18.01"
Constellation  Dorado
Observation Date  5/12/2000, 5/8/2007, 5/9/2007
Observation Time  31 hours 23 min
Obs. ID  776, 7635, 8554
Instrument  ACIS
Color Code  X-ray (Green=0.2-1.5 keV, Blue=1.5-7 keV), Optical (Orange, Red, Violet)
Optical
X-ray
Distance Estimate  About 160,000 light years
distance arrow
Visitor Comments (12)

400 years ago, expanding 11 million miles an hour, how much larger would it be now?

Posted by joe bowling on Friday, 07.28.17 @ 12:07pm


The shock wave from the supernova is something else. Imagine seeing a supernova in our own galaxy. Now that would be a sight to see.

Posted by Michael A. Amato on Monday, 09.21.15 @ 20:29pm


I have read nearly your whole blog and must say that there is a lot of interesting stuff on this website.

Posted by regarder film on Wednesday, 11.7.12 @ 06:55am


The light from the explosion made it here 400 years ago? Makes me wonder how many other recent nearby supernovae escaped detection?

Posted by JP on Sunday, 01.15.12 @ 11:43am


You really have a way of words. Great style of delivering the information and I could relate to it. Such a great information for me. Thanks for this

Posted by JWH on Wednesday, 05.18.11 @ 11:27am


The universe truly is amazing.

Posted by Vedette on Wednesday, 04.13.11 @ 12:38pm


Absolutely beautiful, an amazing fete that boggles my mind.

Posted by Peg Michenzi on Monday, 01.3.11 @ 20:41pm


These are the best images of the universe, spectacular, fantastic, very good, UNIQUE.

Posted by pedro jesus pato on Monday, 01.3.11 @ 17:51pm


Truly amazing.

Posted by Kalyaan on Thursday, 12.30.10 @ 07:46am


Magnificent, extremely fantastic.

Posted by Mr. Walter P. Moraes on Wednesday, 12.29.10 @ 07:37am


What a wonderful image.

Posted by Mark Ballington on Saturday, 12.18.10 @ 10:59am


Supremely beautiful image.

Posted by mustafa on Friday, 12.17.10 @ 12:49pm


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(20 Mar 08)

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