Chandra Release - March 25, 2026

Visual Description: RCW 86

This is an X-ray and optical image of supernova remnant RCW 86, which appears to be two slightly mismatched halves of a broken rough circle. The colors in the image are predominantly blue and gold with a spot of bright purple in the lower right corner. The texture of RCW 86 resembles that of nebulous and patchy fingers, and swirls of gas. This image combines data from four different telescopes to create a multi-wavelength view of the remains of an exploded star. X-ray images from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the ESA's XMM-Newton are combined to form the blue and gold colors in the image. The X-rays show the interstellar gas that has been heated to millions of degrees by the passage of the shock wave from the supernova. Additional X-ray data from NASA's IXPE are shown in purple, confined to a small circle in the lower right where IXPE observed. A faint starfield, a sprinkling of white stars across the image, from NSF's NOIRlab is also included.