Chandra Release - April 10, 2002

Visual Description: RX J1856.5-3754 and 3C58

The Chandra X-ray Observatory images of the neutron star RX J1856.5-3754 and supernova remnant 3C58 are shown as two panels side by side, with the left panel depicting a brightly glowing but very small circular source (RX J1856.5-3754), while the right panel displays a large irregularly shaped supernova remnant (3C58).  In the left panel, the compact object appears as a small circular bright light source, reminiscent of a full blue moon on a clear night.  In the right panel, the irregularly shaped croissant-like object has a blue, orange and red color palette. The texture of this object is less defined than the circular object, appearing somewhat fuzzy around the edges.  The Chandra observations of RX J1856.5-3754 and the pulsar in 3C58 suggest that the matter in these collapsed stars is even denser than nuclear matter, the most dense matter found on Earth. Such observations demonstrate that the universe can be used as a laboratory to explore physics under conditions that are not accessible on Earth.