Suggested Searches

 

1 min read

Chandra 3-Color X-ray Image of N 63A

Chandra 3-Color X-ray Image of N 63A
Chandra's image of N63A shows material heated to about ten million degrees Celsius by a shock wave generated by the supernova explosion. The fluffy crescent-shaped X-ray features that appear around the edge of the remnant are thought to be fragments of high-speed matter shot out from the star when it exploded, like shrapnel from a bomb. The colors red, green and blue in the image correspond to low, medium and high-energy X-rays, respectively. The image is 112 arcsec per side.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    05h 35m 42.99s
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -66° 2' 31.99"
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Dorado
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    The distance to the LMC is roughly 160,000 light-years (50 kpc).
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    LMC N 63A
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Supernova Remnant
  • Release Date
    June 7, 2005
  • Science Release
    Supernova Remnant Menagerie
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA/CXC/Rutgers/J.Warren et al.

Downloads

  • 1875 × 1875
    jpg (786.26 KB)
  • 1875 × 1875
    tif (2.62 MB)
  • 800 × 800
    jpg (84.28 KB)
  • 200 × 200
    jpg (7.36 KB)
  • 400 × 400
    jpg (17.13 KB)

Related Images & Videos

Supernova Remnant N 63A Menagerie

Supernova Remnant N 63A Menagerie

A violent and chaotic-looking mass of gas and dust is seen in this Hubble Space Telescope image of a nearby supernova remnant. Denoted N 63A, the object is the remains of a massive star that exploded, spewing its gaseous layers out into an already turbulent region. The supernova...

Spitzer Image of N 63A

Spitzer Image of N 63A

Spitzer has imaged the supernova remnant, N 63A, at infrared wavelengths. Using the IRAC detector, the image shows infrared emission at 3.6 (blue), 4.5 (green), 5.8 (orange), 8.0 (red) microns.

Supernova Remnant N 63A

Supernova Remnant N 63A

A color composite of Spitzer infrared, Chandra X-ray and ground-based Halpha. The color assignments are: Chandra (all bands) (blue), CTIO ground-based H-alpha (green), Spitzer 4.5 micron (yellow) and Spitzer 8.0 micron (red).

Supergiant Shell LMC-4 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Supergiant Shell LMC-4 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

An image of the Supergiant Shell LMC-4 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, taken with the Curtis Schmidt telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) as part of the Magellanic Clouds Emission Line Survey (MCELS).

Supernova Remnant LMC N 63A in X-Ray, Optical and Radio Radiation

Supernova Remnant LMC N 63A in X-Ray, Optical and Radio Radiation

Chandra has imaged the glowing shell created by the destruction of a massive star. X-rays from Chandra (blue), combined with optical (green) and radio (red) data, reveal new details in the supernova remnant, LMC N 63A. The X-ray glow is from material heated to about ten million...

Supernova Remnant Menagerie

Supernova Remnant Menagerie

The Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) was used to obtain images of a violent and chaotic-looking mass of gas and dust known as N 63A. The dissolve sequence builds from a Spitzer telescope infrared image of the area, adding the Chandra X-ray image,...

Share

Details

Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Related Terms

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Hubble Science Highlights

Hubble Images

Hubble News Old