Chandra Release - October 6, 2004

Visual Description: Kepler's Supernova Remnant

The image is a composite of four different layers of light. From left to right, they are: two layers of X-rays from Chandra (blue and green), optical light from Hubble Space Telescope (yellow), and infrared data from Spitzer Space Telescope (red). A large composite of all of these layers in seen on top. Each component provides a unique look at Kepler's Supernova Remnant which overall has a sort of circular shell shaped. The Chandra X-ray Observatory component showcases high-energy emissions from the supernova remnant. The hottest gas (higher-energy X-rays, colored blue) is located primarily in the regions directly behind a shock front. These regions also show up in the Hubble observations, and also align with the faint rim of glowing material seen in the Spitzer data, appearing bright, almost white in the composite. The X-rays from the region on the lower left (blue) may be dominated by extremely high energy electrons that were produced by the shock wave and are radiating at radio through X-ray wavelengths as they spiral in the intensified magnetic field behind the shock front. Cooler X-ray gas (lower-energy X-rays, colored green) resides in a thick interior shell and marks the location of heated material expelled from the exploded star. Visible-light images from the Hubble telescope reveal where the supernova shock wave is slamming into the densest regions of surrounding gas. Bright glowing knots are dense clumps from instabilities that form behind the shock wave. The Hubble data also show thin filaments of gas that look like rippled sheets seen edge-on. These filaments reveal where the shock wave is encountering lower-density, more uniform interstellar material.
Finally, the Spitzer telescope shows microscopic dust particles that have been heated by the supernova shock wave. The dust re-radiates the shock wave's energy as infrared light. The Spitzer data are brightest in the regions surrounding those seen in detail by the Hubble telescope.