Cassiopeia A

Cassiopeia A
Originally uploaded by Bracuta.

This image shows Cassiopeia A in the most detailed image ever made of the remains of an exploded star. The colors represent different ranges of X-rays with red, green, and blue representing, low, medium, and higher X-ray energies of the supernova remnant. The one million second image shows a bright outer ring (green) ten light years in diameter that marks the location of a shock wave generated by the supernova explosion. A large jet-like structure that protrudes beyond the shock wave can be seen in the upper left. Chandra was launched July 23, 1999, aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. The data for this new Cassiopeia A image were obtained by Chandra's Advanced Charged Coupled Device Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) instrument during the first half of 2004. (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) REUTERS/NASA (news - web sites)/CXC/GSFC/U.Hwang et al./HO