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Recent Podcast
Seeds of Life Across the Universe
Seeds of Life Across the Universe
There is also seeding taking place on a much bigger stage - a cosmic one. (2013-10-01)
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Animations & Video: Featured Image Tours
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Click for high-resolution animation
1. Tour of NGC 602
QuicktimeMPEG Audio Only The Small Magellanic Cloud - also known as the SMC - is one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way. Because the SMC is so close and bright, it offers a chance to study phenomena that are difficult to examine in more distant galaxies. Chandra has been used to make the first detection of X-ray emission from young, low-mass stars outside our Milky Way galaxy. By "low-mass" we mean with masses similar to our Sun. The Chandra observations of these low-mass stars were made of the region known as the "Wing" of the SMC. In this composite image of the Wing the Chandra data is shown in purple, optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope is shown in red, green and blue and infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope is shown in red. The Wing differs from most areas in the Milky Way by having relatively few metals, that is elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. The Chandra results imply that the young, metal-poor stars in NGC 602a make X-rays just like stars with much higher metal content in our galaxy make X-rays.
[Runtime: 01:22]
(NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)

Related Chandra Images:

Click for high-resolution animation
2. Tour of NGC 6240
QuicktimeMPEG Audio Only Two large galaxies are colliding and scientists have used Chandra to make a detailed study of an enormous cloud of hot gas that surrounds them. This unusually large reservoir of gas contains as much mass as about 10 billion Suns, spans about 300,000 light years, and radiates at a temperature of more than 7 million degrees. This giant gas cloud, which scientists call a "halo," is located in the system known as NGC 6240. As the galaxies - each about the size and shape of our Milky Way -- merge, the gas contained in individual galaxy has been violently stirred up. This caused a baby boom of new stars that has lasted for at least 200 million years. During this burst of stellar birth, some of the most massive stars raced through their evolution and exploded relatively quickly as supernovas. According to researchers, this created new hot gas enriched with important elements -- such as oxygen, neon, and magnesium -- that expanded into and mixed with cooler gas that was already there. In the future, the two spiral galaxies will probably form one young elliptical galaxy over the course of millions of years. It is unclear, however, how much of the hot gas can be retained by this newly formed galaxy, or if it will be lost to surrounding space. Regardless, the collision in NGC 6240 offers the opportunity to witness a relatively nearby version of an event that was common in the early Universe.
[Runtime: 02.06]
(NASA/CXC/J. DePasquale)

Related Chandra Images:

Click for high-resolution animation
3. Tour of SGR 0418+5729
QuicktimeMPEG Audio Only A magnetar is a type of neutron star that occasionally generates bursts of X-rays. They usually have a very strong magnetic field on their surface, ten to a thousand times stronger than for an average neutron star. Now, astronomers have spotted a magnetar, called SGR 0418, with a much lower magnetic field on its surface. Data from Chandra and several other X-ray observatories was used to make this measurement. The magnetar is seen as the pink source in the middle of this image combining Chandra data with optical and infrared data. SGR 0418 is located in our galaxy about 6,500 light years from Earth. In this artist's impression we see a close-up view of SGR 0418, with a weak magnetic field on the surface and a much stronger magnetic field in the interior. These results suggest that magnetars might be much more common than previously thought. They also tell us about the massive stars and supernova explosions that create magnetars.
[Runtime: 01:28]
(NASA/CXC/J. DePasquale)

Related Chandra Images:

Click for high-resolution animation
4. Tour of Vela Pulsar
QuicktimeMPEG Audio Only 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:

Click for high-resolution animation
5. Tour of W49B
QuicktimeMPEG Audio Only 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:

Click for high-resolution animation
6. A Tour of SN 1957D in M83
QuicktimeMPEG Audio Only 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

Click for high-resolution animation
7. Tour of 3C186
QuicktimeMPEG 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:

Click for high-resolution animation
8. Tour of A 30
QuicktimeMPEG Audio Only 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:

Click for high-resolution animation
9. Tour of Abell 383
QuicktimeMPEG Audio Only 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:

Click for high-resolution animation
10. Tour of Cassiopeia A
QuicktimeMPEG Audio Only 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:

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