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Credit: XMM Project,
ESA
Explanation:
Recently the European Space Agency released this and other
spectacular "first light" pictures from its new
orbiting x-ray observatory, christened
XMM-Newton.
A churning region of star birth and death
in our small neighboring galaxy, the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC),
this field was one of several
chosen to test out XMM-Newton's
x-ray imaging capabilities.
The picture is a false-colour one in which low energy x-rays
are translated to red, medium energy to green, and high energy
to blue.
Image colours therefore
represent the relative million degree
temperatures of the x-ray emitting regions, red being the coolest
and blue the hottest.
Remains of the star that exploded as
Supernova 1987a appear here
as the white x-ray source at the lower right, while another
supernova remnant,
cataloged as N157D is the brightest
source at the upper left.
The bluish arc (near center) also appears to be a
supernova remnant whose
expanding debris cloud is interacting with
the LMC's local interstellar gas.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: LMC - XMM-Newton - X-ray
Publications with words: LMC - XMM-Newton - X-ray
See also: