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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Vela Supernova Remnant in Optical
Explanation: About 11,000 years ago a star in the constellation of Vela exploded. This bright supernova may have been visible to the first human farmers . Today the Vela supernova remnant marks the position of a relatively close and recent explosion in our Galaxy . A roughly spherical, expanding shock wave is visible in X-rays . In the above optical photograph, the upper left corner of the spherical blast wave is shown in detail. As gas flies away from the detonated star , it reacts with the interstellar medium , knocking away closely held electrons from even heavy elements . When the electrons recombine with these atoms , light in many different colors and energy bands is produced.
| Date | June 13, 1996 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: Photograph made from plates taken with the UK Schmidt Telescope. Color photography by David Malin. Copyright: Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, Anglo-Australian Observatory |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |