Scientists have combined data from Chandra, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, and ground-based facilities to construct a unique 3D model of the 300-year old remains of a stellar explosion that blew a massive star apart, sending the stellar debris rushing into space at millions of miles per hour. The collaboration with this new Smithsonian 3D project will allow the astronomical data collected on Cassiopeia A, or Cas A for short, to be featured and highlighted in an open-access program -- a major innovation in digital technologies with public, education, and research-based impacts.
To coincide with Cas A being featured in this new 3D effort, a specially-processed version of Chandra's data of this supernova remnant is also being released. This new image shows with better clarity the appearance of Cas A in different energy bands, which will aid astronomers in their efforts to reconstruct details of the supernova process such as the size of the star, its chemical makeup, and the explosion mechanism. The color scheme used in this image is the following: low-energy X-rays are red, medium-energy ones are green, and the highest-energy X-rays detected by Chandra are colored blue.
Cas A is the only supernova remnant to date to be modeled in 3D. In order to create this visualization, unique software that links the fields of astrophysics and medical imaging (known as "astronomical medicine")
was used. Since its initial release in 2009, the 3D model has proven a
rich resource for scientists as well as an effective tool for
communicating science to the public. Providing this newly formatted data
in an open source framework with finely-tuned contextual materials will
greatly broaden awareness and participation for general public,
teacher, student and researcher audiences.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the
Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and
flight operations from Cambridge, Mass.
Fast Facts for Cassiopeia A:Release Date: November 15, 2013
Scale Image: is about 8.91 arcmin across (about 29 light years)
Category: Supernovas & Supernova Remnants
Coordinates (J2000): RA 23h 23m 26.7s | Dec +58° 49' 03.00"
Constellation: Cassiopeia
Observation Date: 16 pointings between Jan 2000 and Nov 2010
Observation Time: 353 hours (14 days, 17 hours).
Obs. ID: 114, 1952, 4634-4639, 5196, 5319, 5320, 6690, 10935, 10936, 12020, 13177
Instrument: ACIS
Also Known As: Cas A
Color Code: X-ray: Red 0.5-1.5 keV; Green 1.5-2.5; Blue 4.0-6.0
Distance Estimate: About 11,000 light years
