SN 1604: Kepler's Supernova Remnant

Kepler's Supernova Remnant: The remains of a stellar explosion that appear in Earth's sky in 1604.

Over 400 years ago, Johannes Kepler and many others witnessed the appearance of a new "star" in the sky. Today, this object is known as the Kepler supernova remnant. Previously, astronomers have deduced that the Kepler remnant comes from a so-called Type Ia supernova, which is the result of a thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf. New data from Chandra suggest that this white dwarf exploded after pulling material from a companion red giant star, and not from the merger with another white dwarf. In this image, data from Chandra are colored red, green, and blue to show low, medium, and high-energy X-rays that have been combined with an optical image of the field.

Scale: Image is 12 arcmin across (45 light years)

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/NCSU/M.Burkey et al; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Note: For more information, see Kepler's Supernova Remnant: Famous Supernova Reveals Clues About Crucial Cosmic Distance Markers

SN 1604 - Kepler's Supernova Remnant

Kepler's Supernova Remnant: The debris from a supernova observed in 1604.

This composite image of Kepler's supernova remnant shows different colors ranging from lower to higher energies: red, yellow, green, blue and purple. An optical image from the Digitized Sky Survey (pale yellow and blue) shows stars in the field. The Kepler supernova was a Type Ia event, the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf. New analysis suggests that the supernova explosion was not only more powerful, but might have also occurred at a greater distance, than previously thought.

Scale: Image is about 5 arcmin across (19-33 light years).

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/D.Patnaude, Optical: DSS


Note: For more information, see Kepler's Supernova Remnant: Was Kepler's Supernova Unusually Powerful?