Shreds of the luridly coloured supernova
remnant DEM L 190 seem to billow across the screen in this image from
the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The delicate sheets and intricate
filaments are debris from the cataclysmic death of a massive star that once lived in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy
of the Milky Way. DEM L 190 — also known as LMC N49 — is the brightest
supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud and lies approximately
160 000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Dorado.
This
striking image was created with data from two different astronomical
investigations, using one of Hubble’s retired instruments, the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). This instrument has since been replaced by the more powerful Wide Field Camera 3,
but during its operational lifetime it contributed to cutting-edge
science and produced a series of stunning public outreach images. The
first of the two WFPC2 investigations used DEM L 190 as a natural
laboratory in which to study the interaction of supernova remnants and
the interstellar medium, the tenuous mixture of gas and dust that lies
between stars. In the second project, astronomers turned to Hubble to
pinpoint the origin of a Soft Gamma-ray Repeater, an enigmatic object
lurking in DEM L 190 which repeatedly emits high-energy bursts of gamma
rays.
This is not the first image of DEM L 190 to be released to
the public — a previous Hubble portrait of this supernova remnant was published in 2003.
This new image incorporates additional data and improved image
processing techniques, making this spectacular celestial fireworks
display even more striking!
