NASA recently released two new films that offer a fascinating look at the transformations taking place in two iconic celestial sources: Cassiopeia A and the Crab Nebula. Both represent the remnants of massive stars that underwent the cataclysmic supernova phenomenon within our own galaxy. These time-lapse videos condense two decades of observations from the Chandra X-ray telescope into a mere 20 seconds, providing a dramatic and eye-opening view.
The explosion that gave rise to the Crab Nebula lit up the skies nearly a thousand years ago, in 1054. This astronomical event was documented by Chinese observers and others around the globe, although its lack of mention in Europe may be linked to the influence of the Catholic Church in season. After the supernova, a pulsar was left in its wake, and Chandra has been closely tracking the highly energetic changes that have occurred around this extreme object from 2000 until 2022.
These discoveries are already remarkable in themselves, however, the future holds even more promise for new observations. The jet visible in the 2022 observations is predicted to be tracked again later this year, further expanding our understanding of these extraordinary cosmic phenomena.
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Cassiopeia A represents a remarkably young supernova remnant. Approximately 340 years ago, its presence was already detectable from Earth, and since the year 2000, the Chandra telescope has been an attentive witness to its transformations. Previous observations, focusing on the time interval between 2000 and 2013, were extended to 2018 in the new data set. In these observations, shock waves are discernible, demonstrating the acceleration of particles that, in the process, emit X-rays.
In the core of Cassiopeia A resides a neutron star, whose discovery by Chandra shortly after the launch of the telescope in 1999 was of paramount importance. These observations played a fundamental role in our deepening of the process of supernova formation and the genesis of neutron stars and pulsars.
Images of Cassiopeia A were recently subjected to a new reprocessing process using an innovative technique, taking Chandra’s resolution capacity to a new level. These two new films vividly illustrate Chandra’s ability to present observations and data captured over a human-perceivable time range.
The detailed description of this new imaging technique was published in the renowned scientific journal The Astrophysical Journal.
