Hubble image archive

Optical and X-ray Composite Image of SNR 0509-67.5

This image of supernova remnant 0509-67.5 was made by combining data from two of NASA's Great Observatories. Optical data of SNR 0509-67.5 and its accompanying star field, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, are composited with X-ray images from the Chandra X-ray Observatory....

Date
Jan 1, 2012
Mission
Hubble Space Telescope
Archive ID
hubblesite-images-2012-06-2973-image
By

This image of supernova remnant 0509-67.5 was made by combining data from two of NASA's Great Observatories. Optical data of SNR 0509-67.5 and its accompanying star field, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, are composited with X-ray images from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The result shows soft green and blue hues of heated material from the X-ray data surrounded by the glowing pink optical shell, which shows the ambient gas being shocked by the expanding blast wave from the supernova. Ripples in the shell's appearance coincide with brighter areas of the X-ray data.

The Type Ia supernova that resulted in the creation of SNR 0509-67.5 occurred nearly 400 years ago for Earth viewers. The supernova remnant lies in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small galaxy about 170,000 light-years from Earth. The bubble-shaped shroud of gas is 23 light-years across and is expanding at more than 11 million miles per hour (5,000 kilometers per second).

Data from Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, taken in 2006 with a filter that isolates light from glowing hydrogen, were combined with visible-light images of the surrounding star field that were taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 in 2010. These data were then merged with X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory taken with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) in 2000 and 2007.

Credits

Science: NASA, ESA, and B. Schaefer and A. Pagnotta (Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge);
Image: NASA, ESA, CXC, SAO, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and J. Hughes (Rutgers University)

Image Details

About The Object
Object NameSNR 0509-67.5
Object DescriptionSupernova Remnant
R.A. Position05h 9m 31.69s
Dec. Position-67° 31' 18.0"
ConstellationDorado
Distance170,000 light-years (52,000 parsecs)
About The Data
Data DescriptionThe optical image was created from Hubble data from proposals: : J. Hughes, J. Warren, and L. Hovey (Rutgers University), C. Badenes (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel), C. Smith (NOAO/CTIO), J. Vink (Space Research Organization, Netherlands), and P. Ghavamian (STScI); : K. Noll, Z. Levay, M. Livio, H. Bond, C. Christian, L. Frattare, M. Mutchler, and T. Borders (Hubble Heritage Team/STScI). The X-ray data are from the CXO proposals: 776, 7635, 8554: NASA/CXC/SAO/ J.Hughes et al.
InstrumentHST>ACS/WFC, HST>WFC3/UVISl, and Chandra>ACIS
FiltersHST: F475W (g), F555W (V), F658N (H-alpha+[N II]), and F814W (I) CXO: 0.2-1.5 keV and 1.5-7 keV
About The Image
Color InfoThis image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 and ACS instruments on HST, and the ACIS instrument on the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Several filters were used to sample broad and narrow wavelength ranges along with X-ray energy frequencies. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Orange: F814W (I) Red: F658N (H-alpha+[N II]) Light green: F555W (V) Purple: F475W (g) Green: 0.2-1.5 keV Blue: 1.5-7 keV

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