I spent a few hours today really digging into WordPress and rearranging the blog with some more features and many layout changes. I am just starting to get use to WordPress, at first I was hesitant to use it but after some time I am really starting to like it. Like all things WordPress takes a bit …
Extension Cables
NASA IOTD
Remnant of a Supernova
Vital clues about the devastating ends to the lives of massive stars can be found by studying the aftermath of their explosions. In its more than twelve years of science operations, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has studied many of these supernova remnants sprinkled across the galaxy. The latest example of this important investigation is Chandra's new image of the supernova remnant known as G350.1-0.3. This stellar debris field is located some 14,700 light years from the Earth toward the center of the Milky Way. Evidence from Chandra and from ESA's XMM-Newton telescope suggest that a compact object within G350.1+0.3 may be the dense core of the star that exploded. The position of this likely neutron star, seen by the arrow pointing to "neutron star" in the inset image, is well away from the center of the X-ray emission. If the supernova explosion occurred near the center of the X-ray emission then the neutron star must have received a powerful kick in the supernova explosion. Data suggest this supernova remnant, as it appears in the image, is 600 and 1,200 years old. If the estimated location of the explosion is correct, this means the neutron star has been moving at a speed of at least 3 million miles per hour since the explosion. Another intriguing aspect of G350.1-0.3 is its unusual shape. Many supernova remnants are nearly circular, but G350.1-0.3 is strikingly asymmetrical as seen in the Chandra data in this image (gold). Infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (light blue) also trace the morphology found by Chandra. Astronomers think that this bizarre shape is due to stellar debris field expanding into a nearby cloud of cold molecular gas. The age of 600-1,200 years puts the explosion that created G350.1-0.3 in the same time frame as other famous supernovas that formed the Crab and SN 1006 supernova remnants. However, it is unlikely that anyone on Earth would have seen the explosion because of the obscuring gas and dust that lies along our line of sight to the remnant. These results appeared in the April 10, 2011 issue of The Astrophysical Journal. Image Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/I. Lovchinsky et al; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Monthly Archive: February 2010
Feb
28
2010
Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/many-site-updates-at-daltonskygazer.html
Feb
27
2010
The DaltonSkyGazer Observatory Project
In December 2009, I was fortunate to find an Explora-Dome Observatory for sale by Steve Durham of Marge’s Monograms located near Lake Placid, Ny. I purchased this observatory building and made arrangements to transport most of the existing structure to Dalton, Ma. Due to limits on square footage and shed sizing, I decided to leave the existing warm …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/the-daltonskygazer-observatory-project.html
Feb
25
2010
Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/m27-taken-with-meade-80mm-ed-5000-apo.html
Feb
23
2010
Pictures From 2003
While going though my astro/computer room tonight and setting up the Orion telescope on the CGEM for some stuff I am working on I came across some old photos within picture archives. I believe these images are taken back in 2003 not long after my LX-200 12″ GPS arrived. I am very fond of the 12″ LX-200 GPS UHTC. …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/some-pictures-from-2003-i-have-not-seen-for-some-time.html