The universe holds so many secrets, and many of them are too beautiful to miss. Scientists have captured stunning photos of the universe using observatories that served as humans' eyes to see all the wonderful phenomena that happen in the vast cosmos. An example of that is the colorful Cassiopeia A, the 300-year-old remnant of a supernova.
The image of Cassiopeia A was captured in the early 2000s and was shared by NASA in 2005. The image shows different colors of intensity during a supernova that likely happened centuries ago. NASA reshares this stunning photo in their Instagram account.
Breathtaking Image of Cassiopeia A Is a Kaleidoscope of Color
According to NASA, a supernova is an explosion of a star and the largest explosion in the universe. The latest supernova was observed in 1604 by Johannes Kepler, while the latest remnant of a supernova was discovered by NASA's Chandra telescope. That supernova was the Cassiopeia A (Cas A).
Recently, NASA uploaded on its Instagram account a colorful photo of Cas A that was met with positive comments by its followers. News18 reported that the image shows shiny colorful lights forming beautiful colorful bulbs without its outer glass.
NASA described the image as "A kaleidoscope of color" in its caption. The US space agency added that the Cassiopeia A was a supernova remnant from 11,000 light-years away from the Solar System. It showed red, yellow, green, and blue colors that represent the distinct inputs from the three NASA observatories.
The red lights were captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope, which shows the dust that is as warm as 10 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, the yellow streaks were captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, which represents the delicate structure of gases as hot as 10,000 degrees celsius. On the other hand, the green and blue lights were captured by Chandra X-ray Observatory, showing even hotter gases about 10 million degrees Celsius.
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Cassiopeia A, Supernova Remnant
According to Britannica, Cassiopeia A is the strongest source of radio emission in the universe that is located in the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia. The light from the supernova was estimated to had reached Earth about 300 years ago, between 1662 and 1700.
Today, it is still observable under the visible, infrared, and X-ray wavelengths and appears to be expanding by approximately five arc minutes in diameter. A neutron star can be seen at the center of the supernova remnant, which scientists said was the first one detected to have a carbon atmosphere.
NASA JPL wrote on their website that the neutron star was surrounded by a shell of material that blasted when the star died. It is also the latest supernova in the Milky Way galaxy and the most studied so far.
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