1. Tour of DEM L50
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DEM L50 is what astronomers call a superbubble. These objects are found in regions where massive stars have formed, raced through their evolution, and exploded as supernovas. Winds from the massive stars and shock waves from the supernovas carve out huge cavities in the gas and dust around them, creating superbubbles. This composite contains X-rays from Chandra and optical data from ground-based telescopes. The superbubble in DEM L50 is giving off about 20 times more X-rays than expected by standard models. Researchers think that supernova shock waves striking the walls of the cavities and hot material evaporating from the cavity walls may be responsible for this additional X-ray emission.
[Runtime: 00:51]
(NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: DEM L50

2. Tour of Vela Pulsar
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Unlike with some Hollywood films, a sequel of a movie from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is better than the first. The star of this Chandra movie is the Vela pulsar, a neutron star that was formed when a massive star collapsed. The Vela pulsar is about 1,000 light years from Earth, spans about 12 miles in diameter, and makes a complete rotation in 89 milliseconds, which is faster than a helicopter rotor. As the pulsar whips around, it spews out a jet of charged particles that race out along the pulsar's rotation axis at about 70% the speed of light. The new Chandra data, which were obtained from June to September 2010, suggest that the jet may be slowly wobbling, or precessing, as it spins. The first Chandra movie of Vela came out in 2003, but its shorter and unevenly spaced exposures did not provide clear evidence for precession of the pulsar. If the Vela saga becomes a trilogy, maybe more secrets of this exotic object will be revealed.
[Runtime: 01.09]
(NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: Vela Pulsar Jet

3. Tour of W49B
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The supernova remnant known as W49B is, let's say, a bit unorthodox looking. Many supernova remnants appear rather spherical in shape. This is in large part because astronomers think that most supernovas explode more or less evenly in all directions. W49B, however, is an exception to that rule. Researchers instead think that the star that created W49B ejected more material at higher speeds from its poles than from its equator during its explosion. The result is this unusual barrel-shaped remnant we see today. While most supernovas leave behind a dense rotating core called a neutron star, there is no evidence that one is present within W49B. This and other evidence suggest that an even more exotic object, that is, a black hole, was produced during the explosion. Since W49B's explosion occurred about a thousand years ago as seen from Earth, this means this may be the most recent black hole formed in our Milky Way galaxy.
[Runtime: 01.13]
(NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: W49B

4. A Tour of SN 1957D in M83
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Over fifty years ago, a supernova was discovered in M83, a spiral galaxy about 15 million light years from Earth. This supernova was dubbed SN 1957D because it was the fourth one detected in the year of 1957.
[Runtime: 01:13]
(X-ray: NASA/CXC/STScI/K.Long et al., Optical: NASA/STScI)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: M83

5. Tour of 3C186
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A galaxy cluster containing a structure never previously seen so far from Earth has been observed by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The cluster is also interesting to astronomers because a bright quasar, known as 3C 186, is found at its center. Dr. Aneta Siemiginowska of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics led the team's research on this result and discusses it with us.
[Runtime: 03.30]
(NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: 3C186

6. Tour of A 30
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A planetary nebula is formed in the late stage of the evolution of a sun-like star, after it expands to become a red giant. These images show the planetary nebula A30, located about 5500 light years from Earth, which is going through a special, rarely-seen phase of evolution. The planetary nebula formed, but then the star briefly reverted to being a red giant. The evolution of the planetary nebula then restarted, making it reborn. Here is a close-up view of A30, showing X-ray data from Chandra in purple and optical data from Hubble in orange. A larger view shows optical and X-ray data from Kitt Peak and XMM-Newton, respectively, where the optical data is colored orange, green and blue, and X-ray emission is colored purple.
[Runtime: 01:04]
(NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: Abell 30

7. Tour of Abell 383
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Dark matter is mysterious. We know that it is invisible material that does not emit or absorb any type of light, but we can detect it through the gravitational effects it has on material we can see. Many scientists consider figuring out what dark matter is to be one of the biggest outstanding problems in astrophysics. Therefore, getting any new information about dark matter can help. Two teams of astronomers have used data from Chandra and other telescopes to map where the dark matter is in the galaxy cluster known as Abell 383. Not only were they able to find where dark matter lies in the two dimensions across the sky, they were also able to determine how the dark matter is distributed along the line of sight, or three dimensionally. So while there's still a long way to go before we know what dark matter is, results like these give astronomers important clues in this compelling cosmic mystery.
[Runtime: 00:59]
(NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: Abell 383

8. Tour of Cassiopeia A
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Over three hundred years ago, a very large star ran out of fuel and collapsed. This event created an explosion, known as a supernova, which then produced an expanding field of debris. This debris field is what we now call the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. Astronomers studying this supernova remnant have found something very interesting. They determined that some of the inner layers of the star before the supernova explosion are now found on the outer edges of the supernova remnant. In other words, it appears that the star has turned itself out, so to speak, at the end of its life. Supernovas and the remnants they create spread elements like carbon, oxygen, and iron into the next generation of stars and planets. Therefore, understanding exactly how these stars explode is very important for knowing how the Universe has gotten to where it is today.
[Runtime: 01:02]
(NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: Cassiopeia A

9. Tour of Cygnus OB2
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The Milky Way and other galaxies in the universe are home to many star clusters and associations that each contain hundreds to thousands of hot, massive, young stars. Astronomers would like to better understand how these star factories form and evolve over time. Cygnus OB2 is the closest massive star cluster to Earth, making it an excellent target for astronomers to study. A long observation from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory of Cygnus OB2 revealed about 1,700 X-ray sources. Scientists think that nearly 1,500 of these X-ray sources are young stars. The X-ray emission comes from the hot outer atmospheres of these stars ranging in age from one million to seven million years old. This makes the stars in Cygnus OB2 practically newborn babies when compared to a star like our Sun at about 5 billion years in age. By combining Chandra's data with those from other telescopes, a more complete story of star birth and early adolescence is made.
[Runtime: 01.11]
(NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)

10. Tour of DLSCL J0916.2+2951
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Using a combination of powerful observatories in space and on the ground, astronomers have discovered a violent collision between two galaxy clusters. During this collision, so-called normal matter has been wrenched apart from dark matter through a violent collision between two galaxy clusters. We see the normal matter in the form of hot gas thanks to X-rays detected by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The location of the dark matter comes from optical data that reveal the effects of gravitational lensing, something Einstein predicted where large masses can distort the light from distant objects. The new galaxy cluster is called DLSCL J0916.2+2951. Rather than say that mouthful, researchers have nicknamed it the "Musket Ball Cluster." This name makes sense because this system is like an older and slower cousin to the famous Bullet Cluster. Finding another system that is further along in its evolution than the Bullet Cluster is very valuable. It gives scientists insight into a different phase of how galaxy clusters -- the largest known objects held together by gravity -- grow and change after major collisions.
[Runtime: 1:22]
(NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: DLSCL J0916.2+2951