Supernova remnants are all that remain once massive stars burn out. From the colossal explosion and the release of energy that overtakes the star at the end of its life-span, to the symmetry of the nebula formed from the gas spewed outwards as the star's core collapses - all the way to the heavy elements that can only be created in the wake of the event, including the elements that are central to our existence - most of them are utterly bizarre and/. This one certainly belongs in the bizarre camp.
This image of the supernova remnant G272.2-03.2 (catchy name, right?) was taken in 2001 by the XMM-Newton Observatory. The star that used to exist in the center of the remnant is located between 6,000 and 16,000 light-years from Earth and was approximately 8-10 times more massive than our sun, but the remnant itself is believed to be about 5,000 years old. Though, determining an accurate number is difficult since there are a few contradictory observations that call the age of the remnant into question.
Instead of only being a snapshot of one image, this is a composite that consists of images taken by various tools belonging to the observatory's telescope. The stars visible in the background were photographed using an optical telescope. The greenish/orange color of the remnant itself is emitted from super-heated gases from the star's explosion, but was photographed in x-ray. Likely, in the heart of the remnant lies a dense neutron star or a stellarmass black hole that is being obscured from view by the material left over from the explosion.
Jaime is a freelance writer, who feels like she can't be summarized in a single paragraph. She will say, however, that she is very passionate about science (particularly physics and astronomy). She used this passion to launch 'From Quarks to Quasars' in 2012.
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