Chandra Release - May 26, 2003

Visual Description: SNR 0103-72.6

SNR 0103-72.6 is a supernova remnant in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy about 190,000 light years from Earth.  Chandra's image shows a striking, nearly complete ring about 150 light years in diameter surrounding a cloud of gas rich in oxygen and shock-heated to millions of degrees.  The object resembles a neon horseshoe crab, with a bright red perimeter, a more translucent pink center, and brightly colored rainbow sources sprinkled throughout the shape.  The supernova remnant sits on a solid black background.  The perimeter, or ring, marks the outer limits of a shock wave produced as material ejected in the supernova explosion plows into interstellar gas. The size of the ring indicates that we see the supernova remnant as it was about 10,000 years after its progenitor star exploded.