|
|
RX J0822-4300 in Puppis A:
Chandra Discovers Cosmic Cannonball
 |
| Credit: Chandra: NASA/CXC/Middlebury College/F.Winkler et al; ROSAT:
NASA/GSFC/S.Snowden et al.; Optical: NOAO/AURA/NSF/Middlebury
College/F.Winkler et al. |
| JPEG (525.1 kb) |
Tiff (9.3 MB) |
PS (5.9 MB) |
|
This graphic shows a wide-field view of the Puppis A supernova remnant along with a close-up image of the neutron star, known as RX J0822-4300, that is moving at a blistering pace. The larger field-of-view is a composite of X-ray data from the ROSAT satellite (pink) and optical data (purple), from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 0.9-meter telescope, which highlights oxygen emission. Astronomers think Puppis A was created when a massive star ended its life in a supernova explosion about 3,700 years ago, forming an incredibly dense object called a neutron star and releasing debris into space.
The neutron star was ejected by the explosion. The inset box shows two
observations of this neutron star obtained with the Chandra X-ray
Observatory over the span of five years, between December 1999 and April
2005. By combining how far it has moved across the sky with its
distance from Earth, astronomers determined the cosmic cannonball is
moving at over 3 million miles per hour, one of the fastest moving stars
ever observed. At this rate, RX J0822-4300 is destined to escape from
the Milky Way after millions of years, even though it has only traveled
about 20 light years so far.
The results from this study suggest the supernova explosion was
lop-sided, kicking the neutron star in one direction and much of the
debris from the explosion in the other. The estimated location of the
explosion is shown in a labeled version of the composite image. The
direction of motion of the cannonball, shown by an arrow, is in the
opposite direction to the overall motion of the oxygen debris, seen in
the upper left. In each case, the arrows show the estimated motion over
the next 1,000 years. The oxygen clumps are believed to be massive enough
so that momentum is conserved in the aftermath of the explosion, as
required by fundamental physics.
| Fast Facts for RX J0822-4300 in Puppis A: |
| Credit |
Chandra: NASA/CXC/Middlebury College/F.Winkler et al; ROSAT:
NASA/GSFC/S.Snowden et al.; Optical: NOAO/AURA/NSF/Middlebury
College/F.Winkler et al. |
| Scale |
Inset is
14.5 arcsec across |
| Category |
Neutron Stars/X-ray Binaries, Supernovas & Supernova Remnants |
| Coordinates (J2000) |
RA 08h 23m 08.16s | Dec -42º 41' 41.40'' |
| Constellation |
Puppis |
| Observation Date |
12/21/1999 and 04/25/2005
|
| Observation Time |
14 hours |
| Obs. ID |
749, 4612
|
| Color Code |
X-ray (Pink); Optical (Purple) |
| Instrument |
HRC |
| Distance Estimate |
About 7,000 light years |
| References | F. Winkler et al.,2007,ApJ,670, 635 |
| Release Date |
November 28, 2007 |
|
|
|
