FOR RELEASE: 1:00 pm (EDT) March 29, 2017
PHOTO NO.: STScI-PRC17-16a
WISPY REMAINS OF SUPERNOVA EXPLOSION HIDE POSSIBLE SURVIVOR
Newswise — This image, taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows the supernova remnant SNR 0509-68.7, also known as N103B. It is located 160,000 light-years from Earth in a neighboring galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. N103B resulted from a Type Ia supernova, whose cause remains a mystery. One possibility would leave behind a stellar survivor, and astronomers have identified a possible candidate.
The actual supernova remnant is the irregular shaped dust cloud, at the upper center of the image. The gas in the lower half of the image and the dense concentration of stars in the lower left are the outskirts of the star cluster NGC 1850.
The Hubble image combines visible and near-infrared light taken by the Wide Field Camera 3 in June 2014.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and Y.-H. Chu (Academia Sinica, Taipei)
For image files and more information about N103B and Hubble, visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2017-16http://www.nasa.gov/hubblehttp://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1707
For additional information, contact:
Christine Pulliam / Ray VillardSpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland410-338-4366 / 410-338-4514[email protected] / [email protected]
You-Hua ChuInstitute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan011-886-2-2366-5300[email protected]
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