NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 1 June 2023: Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a snapshot of Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant located about 11000 light-years from Earth towards the constellation of Cassiopeia. When a star explodes, the subsequent explosion which takes place, known as a Supernova, is the largest explosion to occur in space. According to NASA, a supernova happens when there is a change in the core, or center, of a star. A change can occur in two different ways, with both resulting in a supernova.
Although a supernova occurs for only a short span of time, it can tell scientists a lot about the universe. By studying supernovas, scientists have also shed light on the fact that we're living in an ever-expanding universe.
The picture was captured by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope. Launched in 1999, the Chandra X-ray Observatory is a telescope specially designed to detect X-ray emissions from very hot regions of the Universe with the help of four sensitive mirrors.
On the other hand, the Hubble Space Telescope is run by NASA and ESA in collaboration. Hubble has advanced optical instruments such as the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3. The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) was primarily designed to survey large areas of the sky at visible and red wavelengths with 10 times greater efficiency than the earlier premier Hubble camera.
Massive stars in our Milky Way Galaxy live spectacular lives. Collapsing from vast cosmic clouds, their nuclear furnaces ignite and create heavy elements in their cores. After a few million years, the enriched material is blasted back into interstellar space where star formation can begin anew. The expanding debris cloud known as Cassiopeia A is an example of this final phase of
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