Q&A: Supernova Remnants and Neutron Stars

Q:
While looking at several "colored" photos of Tycho's supernova, I noticed a red object, at the +-11:00 o'clock position.
Just wondering if this object has been observed, and/or classified?

A:
Thanks for your question. I don't know for sure if anything has been published about that red object, but I'm guessing that it's a foreground or background star that's unrelated to the supernova remnant. It doesn't appear to be a source of X-rays, so it's not likely to be a background active galactic nucleus, a rapidly growing supermassive black hole.

The object may correspond to one of the stars studied in a search for the binary companion to the progenitor, but it definitely isn't the star singled out as the possible companion. See a Nature paper by Pilar Ruiz-Lapuente, Vol 431, 28 October, 2004, p1069.