Chandra Release - September 10, 2014

Visual Description: Puppis A

The X-ray image of the supernova remnant Puppis A displays a vibrant and intricate cosmic structure. The center of the image is dominated by a large, irregularly shaped object, which appears to be made up of several smaller, interconnected pieces.  The color palette of the image is predominantly blue and pale gold, with occasional flashes of dark orange and light green. The overall shape of the remnant resembles that of a right-hand punching glove with the fist striking out towards the viewer's perspective. The remnant floats on a solid black background.   The image shows the remains of a star that exploded and that would have been witnessed on Earth about 3,700 years ago. This image provides the most complete and detailed X-ray view of Puppis A ever obtained at the time, made by combining a mosaic of different Chandra X-ray Observatory and XMM-Newton observations. Low-energy X-rays are colored in red, medium-energy X-rays are in green and high energy X-rays are colored blue. These observations act as a probe of the gas surrounding Puppis A, known as the interstellar medium. The complex appearance of the remnant shows that Puppis A is expanding into an interstellar medium that probably has a knotty structure.