'Pa 30' in Cassiopeia looks like fireworks spotted by NASA's X-ray space telescope | sorae universe portal website

This is the celestial body “Pa 30” located about 10,100 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia. The image is created by colorizing observational data for X-rays, visible light and infrared light, so it is different from how it appears to the human eye. What do you think is this celestial body whose structures radiate from the center and resemble fireworks?

In August 1181, a “guest star” as bright as Saturn appeared in the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia, and continued to shine for half a year until February of the following year 1182. This guest star, recorded in Japanese and Chinese literature including Fujiwara Teika’s “Meigetsuki,” is believed to be It was a supernova and is called “SN 1181”.

In fact, Pa 30 is an object believed to be a remnant of the supernova left behind by SN 1181. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X-ray Center (CXC), which operates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) space Chandra”, as “SNR 1181”.(*SNR is an abbreviation for SuperNova Remnant, which means supernova remnant in English).

Supernova remnants are celestial objects observed after a supernova explosion. Electromagnetic waves such as visible light and X-rays are thought to be emitted when the gas surrounding the exploding star is heated by shock waves. According to CXC, Pa 30's impressive radial structure is made of sulfur that is heated and glows in visible light.

The researchers analyzed Pa 30 and found that what this debris left behind was probably a slightly special type of supernova classified as a Type Iax. Type Iax is a supernova that is said to be less luminous than Type Ia, which includes white dwarfs. According to CXC, the supernova explosion that left behind the debris occurred when two white dwarfs merged, but the explosion was not complete, and a giant white dwarf was left behind after the explosion. This star, located at the center of Pa 30, is said to be one of the hottest stars in the Milky Way, with a surface temperature of about 200,000 degrees Celsius, and is said to have a stellar wind blowing at a maximum speed of about 16,000 kilometers per hour.

Images were created using the Chandra Space Telescope (cyan), the European Space Agency's (ESA) X-ray Space Telescope “XMM-Newton” (blue), and the Hawaiian Comet Observation Project “Pan-STARRS” (white). Data from the Hiltner telescope (green) at the MDM Observatory in Arizona, USA, and NASA's WISE infrared astronomy satellite (red and pink) were used.(*The color names in parentheses are the colors used to color each data).

The first image was published by CXC on March 27, 2024.

source

• CXC – SNR 1181: Amazing echo of an 800-year-old explosion

Text Editing/Syrian Studies Department