This composite image of the Tycho supernova remnant combines infrared and X-ray observations obtained with the Spitzer and Chandra space observatories and the Calar Alto observatory. It shows the scene more than 4 centuries after the brilliant explosion witnessed by Tycho Brahe and other contemporary astronomers as “Stella Nova”. The thermonuclear explosion of the white dwarf star has left a several million degree hot cloud of expanding debris (green, yellow). The location of the blast’s outer shock wave can be seen as blue sphere of ultra-energetic electrons. Newly synthesized dust in the ejecta as well as heated pre-existing dust from the circumstellar medium of the supernova radiates at a wavelength of 24 micron (red). Fore- and background star in the image are white. Observers were Prof. John P. Hughes, Dr. Jeonghee Rho and Dr. Oliver Krause.
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One response to “Astronomy Picture of the Day | Tycho’s Supernova Remnant”
Superb photo of a superb event witnessed by humans!
But I keep wondering why the shock wave isn’t perfectly spherical since it lies in relatively empty space and hasn’t been around, cosmologically speaking, long enough to have been influenced by nearby gravitational forces. Has anybody figured that one out? Thanks for posting!