Chandra Release - June 02, 2008

Visual Description: W28

The composite image of the supernova remnant W28 is a combination of two images, one showing a large view of a nebula in optical, radio and X-ray light, and the other a closeup of just the X-ray light.  The image is made up of gold, grey and pale blue, with intricate, swirling textures that resemble those of clouds in the sky.  This is a classic example of what’s called a mixed-morphology supernova remnant. Each wavelength shows detailed structure of how the supernova shock wave is interacting, or has interacted, with the complex cloudy environment which surrounded its parent star. In this image, the stars and fine structure in the background are seen in optical light (colored in grey and white) by the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The radio (gold) data were obtained by the Very Large Array, while the blue in the wide-field view comes from the ROSAT X-ray satellite. Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory give detail into the heart of W28 as seen in the inset. In the close-up view of the center, low-energy X-rays are colored red, the medium are green, and the highest found by Chandra are blue. The Chandra data show the shape and extent of the high-energy emission in the central region. By studying W28, astronomers hope to better understand the complexities involved when a star explodes in a crowded neighborhood.