G1.9+0.3 in 60 Seconds

Narrator (Megan Watzke, CXC) About a hundred and forty years ago, the light from a supernova explosion in our galaxy reached the Earth, but no one saw it. That’s because, as this infrared version shows, the center of the Milky Way contains thick bands of gas and dust, making it impossible for astronomers to detect this explosion using optical telescopes. However, the debris field created by the supernova shines brightly in x-ray and radio wavelengths. A combination of data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in space and the Very Large Array of radio dishes in New Mexico allowed astronomers to identify this object and nail down its age. The discovery of this supernova remnant helps astronomers better understand how often these stellar time-bombs go off in our galaxy.