X-ray & Infrared Image of Puppis A
The pastel hues in this image reveal that the infrared (from the Spitzer Space Telescope) and X-ray (from Chandra and XMM-Newton) structures trace each other closely. Warm dust particles are responsible for most of the infrared light wavelengths, assigned red and green colors in this view. Material heated by the supernovas shock wave emits X-rays, which are colored blue. Regions where the infrared and X-ray emissions blend together take on brighter, more pastel tones. The shock wave appears to light up as it slams into surrounding clouds of dust and gas that fill the interstellar space in this region. From the infrared glow, astronomers have found a total quantity of dust in the region equal to about a quarter of the mass of our sun. Data collected from Spitzers infrared spectrograph reveal how the shock wave is breaking apart the fragile dust grains that fill the surrounding space.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/IAFE/G.Dubner et al & ESA/XMM-Newton; Infrared: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/IAFE)
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