Chandra Release - June 13, 2005

Visual Description: Cassiopeia A

The composite image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A features a vibrant, multi-colored image of a loosely spherical nebula in space.  The nebula appears to be made up of swirling, shimmering, and glowing clouds of gas and debris.  The colors within the nebula are bright and varied, with pink, purple, blue, green, and yellow hues intertwined throughout the image.   The overall form of the nebula resembles an irregularly shaped cloud, with no discernible edges or clear boundaries.   In the center of the nebula, there is a tiny bright, circular object.   The composite includes images taken by three of NASA's Great Observatories. Infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope are colored red; optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope are yellow; and X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory are green and blue. Cassiopeia A is the 300-year-old remnant created by the supernova explosion of a massive star. Each NASA Great Observatory image highlights different characteristics of the remnant. Spitzer reveals warm dust in the outer shell with temperatures of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and Hubble sees the delicate filamentary structures of warmer gases about 10,000 degrees Celsius. Chandra shows hot gases at about 10 million degrees Celsius. This hot gas was created when ejected material from the supernova smashed into surrounding gas and dust at speeds of about ten million miles per hour.