1. Tour of SN 1006
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Over a thousand years ago, a new object was spotted in the sky that was brighter than Venus and visible during the day for weeks. This spectacular lightshow was documented in China, Japan, Europe and the Arab world, and we now know it was the brightest supernova ever recorded on Earth. By using modern telescopes that detect optical, radio and x-ray light, astronomers can continue to study the expanding debris field. The original star was actually one of a pair. One star pulled so much material from its companion, that eventually it triggered an explosion that destroyed it. What remains is this complicated and beautiful structure which astronomers call Supernova 1006. This helps us better understand how some stars explode.
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(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/G.Cassam-Chenaï, J.Hughes et al.; Radio: NRAO/AUI/NSF/GBT/VLA/Dyer, Maddalena & Cornwell; Optical: Middlebury College/F.Winkler, NOAO/AURA/NSF/CTIO Schmidt & DSS)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: SN 1006

2. Tour of SN1996cr
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In 1995 or 1996 a supernova exploded in a nearby galaxy, but no one on Earth knew it at the time. By using the vast amounts of online data now available, a team of astronomers was able to piece together this cosmic case over a decade later. A Chandra observation in 2001 started things off by showing that this object was a bright source that was changing in its X-ray brightness. This led to an investigation that involved some 18 different telescopes on the ground and in space. Ultimately, astronomers realized that this object - now known as supernova 1996cr - was one of the nearest and brightest to have gone off in the last 25 years.
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(X-ray (NASA/CXC/Columbia/F.Bauer et al); Optical (NASA/STScI/UMD/A.Wilson et al.))

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: SN 1996cr

3. Tour of Cassiopeia A
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Cassiopeia A is the 300-year-old remnant created by the supernova explosion of a massive star. Each Great Observatory image highlights different characteristics of the remnant. Hubble sees the delicate filamentary structure of gases at temperatures about 10,000 degrees Celsius. In the infrared, Spitzer reveals warm dust in the outer shell. Chandra shows much hotter gases glowing in X-rays at about 10 million degrees. This hot gas was created when ejected material from the supernova smashed into surrounding gas and dust at millions of miles per hour. When combined, the data from these telescopes produce a stunning image of this famous object.
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(X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: Cassiopeia A

4. Tour of M51
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Hubble's image of M51, also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, shows the majestic spiral arms that are actually long lanes of stars and gas laced with dust. The infrared image from Spitzer also reveals stars and the glow from clouds of interstellar dust. The dust consists mainly of a variety of carbon-based organic molecules. An image from the GALEX mission gives the view of M51 in ultraviolet light. Chandra detects a large number of point-like X-ray sources due to black holes and neutron stars in binary star systems. When combined, all of these observatories paint a more complete picture of the famous galaxy.
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(X-ray (NASA/CXC/Wesleyan Univ./R. Kilgard); UV (NASA/JPL-Caltech); Optical (NASA/ESA/S. Beckwith & The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)); IR (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/R. Kennicutt))

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: Whirlpool Galaxy

5. Tour of M82
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When seen in visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope, M82 looks like an ordinary spiral galaxy. However, looking at it through the Spitzer Space Telescope in infrared radiation, we see a startlingly different picture with material being blasted from the galaxy's disk. X-ray data from Chandra reveal scorching gas that has been heated to millions of degrees by this violent outburst. The composite image of all of these different data reveals the true nature of this galaxy.
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(X-ray: NASA/CXC/JHU/D.Strickland; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/The Hubble Heritage Team; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of AZ/C. Engelbracht)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: M82

6. Tour of Sombrero
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We begin with the Hubble Space Telescope's optical light view of the Sombrero galaxy, also known as M104. Sombrerois one of the largest galaxies in the nearby Virgo cluster, about 28 million light years from Earth. Some of the prominent features of the Sombrero, which are highlighted in Hubble's image, include its large bulge of stars in the center and the thick band of dust that appears as the dark lane across the galaxy's mid-section. Like the Milky Way, Sombrero is a spiral galaxy. However, we see Sombrero edge-on from our vantage point from Earth, rather than the face-down perspective that is more familiar. A Great Observatories view of the same Sombrero reveals different aspects of the galaxy. The X-ray image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory shows hot gas in the galaxy that appears as a diffuse glow that extends over 60,000 light years from the Sombrero's center. Also, Chandra detects many point-like sources of X-ray emission that are mostly stars within Sombrero but some are quasars in the distant background. The rim of dust that blocks the starlight in the Hubble image glows brightly in the Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared image. Also, the central bulge of stars strongly emits infrared emission detected by Spitzer.
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(Credit: X-ray: NASA/UMass/Q.D.Wang et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI/AURA/Hubble Heritage; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. AZ/R.Kennicutt/SINGS Team)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: Sombrero Galaxy

7. Tour of Crab Nebula
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In 1054 A.D., a star's death in the constellation Taurus was observed on Earth. Now, almost a thousand years later, a superdense neutron star left behind by the explosion is spewing out a blizzard of extremely high-energy particles into the expanding debris field known as the Crab Nebula. This image combines data from Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra telescopes. The size of the X-ray image is smaller than the others because ultrahigh-energy X-ray emitting electrons radiate away their energy more quickly than the lower-energy electrons emitting optical and infrared light. By studying the Crab Nebula, astronomers hope to unlock the secrets of how similar objects across the universe are powered.
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(X-ray: NASA/CXC/ASU/J.Hester et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/ASU/J.Hester & A.Loll; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. Minn./R.Gehrz)

Related Chandra Images:

• Photo Album: Crab Nebula