Today's Image

Shell of a recent supernova

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July 4, 2013

A supernova explosion - the most recent known to have occurred near Earth in our galaxy - ejected stellar debris at high velocities, creating this shell in space. This new image is a composite, where low-energy X-rays are red, intermediate energies are green and higher-energy ones are blue. Also shown are optical data, with appearing stars in white. More about this image here. Image via NASA/CXC/NCSU/K.Borkowski et al.;DSS — A supernova explosion – the most recent known in our galaxy – ejected debris from a star at high velocities, creating this shell in space. This new image is a composite, where low-energy X-rays are red, intermediate energies are green and higher-energy ones are blue. Also shown are optical data, with appearing stars in white. More about this image here. Image via NASA/CXC/NCSU/K.Borkowski et al.;DSS

This is the object called G1.9+0.3 by astronomers. It’s about 28,000 light-years from Earth near the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The object is an expanding shell of gas, left behind by the most recent supernova, in Earth’s time frame, known to have occurred in our galaxy.

If gas and dust had not heavily obscured it, the supernova explosion would have been visible from Earth just over a century ago.

A new observation with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory made this image possible. For astronomers, these Chandra observations – made over the equivalent of 11 days of time – reveal new details about the explosion.

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Deborah Byrd

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Deborah Byrd (asteroid 3505 Byrd) helps edit EarthSky.org and is a frequent host of EarthSky videos. Deborah created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named in her honor in 1990, a Public Service Award from the National Science Board in 2003, and the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society in 2020. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.