| Animation showing the evolution of the supernova remnant over time until today's view. Artist's illustration of how a supernova remnant is born. The animation starts with the progenitor of Tycho Brahe's supernova of the year 1572. Following a titanic thermonuclear blast, which has blown apart a white dwarf star, material is ejected into interstellar space at an incredibly high velocity of up to 30000 kilometres per second or one tenth of the speed of light! Over the last 4 centuries the debris have expanded to a diameter of more than 20 light years. Million degree hot gas as well as heated dust particles are seen in an composite image of the remnant today, which has been obtained with the Chandra and Spitzer Space Telescopes and the Calar Alto observatory. This real image concludes the animation. Credit and copyright: Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Ors Hunor Detre, Oliver Krause) www.mpia.de |
