Tour: NASA's Chandra Releases Doubleheader of Blockbuster Hits
(Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)
[Runtime: 03:48]

With closed-captions (at YouTube)

New movies of two of the most famous objects in the sky — the Crab Nebula and Cassiopeia A — are being released from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Each includes X-ray data collected by Chandra over about two decades. They show dramatic changes in the debris and radiation remaining after the explosion of two massive stars in our galaxy.

The Crab Nebula, the result of a bright supernova explosion seen by Chinese and other astronomers in the year 1054, is 6,500 light-years from Earth. At its center is a neutron star, a super-dense star produced by the supernova. As it rotates at about 30 times per second, its beam of radiation passes over the Earth every orbit, like a cosmic lighthouse. As the young pulsar slows down, large amounts of energy are injected into its surroundings. In particular, a high-speed wind of matter and anti-matter particles plows into the surrounding nebula, creating a shock wave that forms the expanding ring seen in the movie. Jets from the poles of the pulsar spew X-ray emitting matter and antimatter particles in a direction perpendicular to the ring.

Over 22 years, Chandra has taken many observations of the Crab Nebula. With this long runtime, astronomers see clear changes in both the ring and the jets in the new movie. Previous Chandra movies showed images taken from much shorter time periods — a 5-month period between 2000 and 2001 and over 7 months between 2010 and 2011 for another. The longer timeframe highlights mesmerizing fluctuations, including whip-like variations in the X-ray jet that are only seen in this much longer movie. A new set of Chandra observations will be conducted later this year to follow changes in the jet since the last Chandra data was obtained in early 2022.

The second billing in this doubleheader is just as spectacular. Cassiopeia A (Cas A for short) is the remains of a supernova that is estimated to have exploded about 340 years ago in Earth’s sky. While other Chandra movies of Cas A have previously been released, including one with data extending from 2000 to 2013, this new movie is substantially longer featuring data from 2000 through to 2019.

The outer region of Cas A shows the expanding blast wave of the explosion. The blast wave is composed of shock waves, similar to the sonic booms generated by a supersonic aircraft. These expanding shock waves are sites where particles are being accelerated to energies that are higher than the most powerful accelerator on Earth, the Large Hadron Collider. As the blast wave travels outwards it encounters surrounding material and slows down, generating a second shock wave that travels backwards relative to the blast wave, analogous to a traffic jam travelling backwards from the scene of an accident on a highway.

These two movies show Chandra’s capabilities of documenting changes in astronomical objects over human timeframes. Such movies would not be possible without Chandra’s archives that serve as public repositories for the data collected over Chandra’s nearly 25 years of operations.

Quick Look: NASA's Chandra Releases Doubleheader of Blockbuster Hits
(Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)
[Runtime: 00:45]

With narration (video above with voiceover)

A pair of blockbuster movies is now available from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

These two movies contain X-ray data of the Crab Nebula and Cassiopeia A spanning decades.

Each of these objects is the remains of an exploded star in the Milky Way galaxy.

Chandra shows that important changes in these debris fields have occurred over time.

Cassiopeia A & Crab Nebula Timelapses (Side by Side)
(Credit: Cassiopeia A: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major, A. Jubett, K. Arcand; Crab Nebula: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, J. Major, A. Jubett, K. Arcand)
[Runtime: 00:46]

These two movies of the Cassiopeia A and Crab Nebula supernova remnants show Chandra’s capabilities of documenting changes in astronomical objects over human timeframes. Dramatic changes are apparent in the debris and radiation remaining after the explosion of these two massive stars in our galaxy. Such time-lapse movies would not be possible without Chandra’s archives that serve as public repositories for the data collected over Chandra’s nearly 25 years of operations.

Cassiopeia A Timelapse
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major, A. Jubett, K. Arcand)
[Runtime: 00:21]

This video begins with a composite version of the Cassiopeia A, combining Chandra X-ray data with infrared data from the James Webb Space Telescope. Cassiopeia A (Cas A for short) is the remains of a supernova that is estimated to have exploded about 340 years ago in Earth’s sky. This new Cas A movie features data from 2000 through to 2019. The images used in the latest Cas A movie have been processed using a state-of-the-art processing technique, led by Yusuke from Rikkyo University in Japan, to fully capitalize on Chandra's sharp X-ray vision.

Cassiopeia A Timelapse (Looping)
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major, A. Jubett, K. Arcand)
[Runtime: 00:46]

Cassiopeia A (Cas A for short) is the remains of a supernova that is estimated to have exploded about 340 years ago in Earth’s sky. This new Cas A movie features data from 2000 through to 2019. The images used in the latest Cas A movie have been processed using a state-of-the-art processing technique, led by Yusuke from Rikkyo University in Japan, to fully capitalize on Chandra's sharp X-ray vision.

Cassiopeia A Timelapse (Looping with Zoom)
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major, A. Jubett, K. Arcand)
[Runtime: 00:46]

Cassiopeia A (Cas A for short) is the remains of a supernova that is estimated to have exploded about 340 years ago in Earth’s sky. This new Cas A movie features data from 2000 through to 2019. The images used in the latest Cas A movie have been processed using a state-of-the-art processing technique, led by Yusuke from Rikkyo University in Japan, to fully capitalize on Chandra's sharp X-ray vision.

Crab Nebula Timelapse
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, J. Major, A. Jubett, K. Arcand)
[Runtime: 00:21]

This video begins with a composite version of the Crab Nebula, combining Chandra X-ray data with infrared data from the James Webb Space Telescope. Over 22 years, Chandra has taken many observations of the Crab Nebula. With this long runtime, astronomers see clear changes in both the ring and the jets in the new movie. Previous Chandra movies showed images taken from much shorter time periods — a 5-month period between 2000 and 2001 and over 7 months between 2010 and 2011 for another. The longer timeframe highlights mesmerizing fluctuations, including whip-like variations in the X-ray jet that are only seen in this much longer movie. A new set of Chandra observations will be conducted later this year to follow changes in the jet since the last Chandra data was obtained in early 2022.

Crab Nebula Timelapse (Looping)
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, J. Major, A. Jubett, K. Arcand)
[Runtime: 00:46]

Over 22 years, Chandra has taken many observations of the Crab Nebula. With this long runtime, astronomers see clear changes in both the ring and the jets in the new movie. Previous Chandra movies showed images taken from much shorter time periods — a 5-month period between 2000 and 2001 and over 7 months between 2010 and 2011 for another. The longer timeframe highlights mesmerizing fluctuations, including whip-like variations in the X-ray jet that are only seen in this much longer movie. A new set of Chandra observations will be conducted later this year to follow changes in the jet since the last Chandra data was obtained in early 2022.

Crab Nebula Timelapse (Looping)
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, J. Major, A. Jubett, K. Arcand)
[Runtime: 00:46]

Over 22 years, Chandra has taken many observations of the Crab Nebula. With this long runtime, astronomers see clear changes in both the ring and the jets in the new movie. Previous Chandra movies showed images taken from much shorter time periods — a 5-month period between 2000 and 2001 and over 7 months between 2010 and 2011 for another. The longer timeframe highlights mesmerizing fluctuations, including whip-like variations in the X-ray jet that are only seen in this much longer movie. A new set of Chandra observations will be conducted later this year to follow changes in the jet since the last Chandra data was obtained in early 2022.

How it was Made: Cassiopeia A
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major, A. Jubett, K. Arcand)
[Runtime: 00:21]

The time-lapse movies for the Crab Nebula and Cassiopeia A supernova remnants are made from about two decades of data collected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. These two versions of the movies show how the timelapse data was compiled, starting with the raw black and white data stacks, moving to a cleaned and processed series of images to final colorized versions. In the Crab Nebula, the movie shows changes in both the rings around the pulsar and the jets it is blasting into space. The Cas A movie features how the debris field from the supernova remnant, including its blast wave, are expanding.

How it was Made: Crab Nebula
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, J. Major, A. Jubett, K. Arcand)
[Runtime: 00:21]

The time-lapse movies for the Crab Nebula and Cassiopeia A supernova remnants are made from about two decades of data collected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. These two versions of the movies show how the timelapse data was compiled, starting with the raw black and white data stacks, moving to a cleaned and processed series of images to final colorized versions. In the Crab Nebula, the movie shows changes in both the rings around the pulsar and the jets it is blasting into space. The Cas A movie features how the debris field from the supernova remnant, including its blast wave, are expanding.