Chandra Release - February 18, 2009

Visual Description: Tycho's Supernova Remnant

The composite image of the Tycho's Supernova Remnant features a large, bright, and colorful object in the center of a starry sky. It looks like a glowing, multi-colored sphere. This spherical structure is actually a remnant of a massive explosion that occurred over 400 years ago, when the star underwent a catastrophic event known as a supernova. This image of the remnant has a slightly rainbow-like appearance, with bright blue, green, red, yellow and purple hues dominating the image. The texture of the remnant can be described as somewhat mottled or uneven, with areas of varying brightness and contrast throughout the sphere, like bits of material are jumping out towards the viewer.   This composite image of the Tycho supernova remnant combines X-ray and infrared observations obtained with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue, green, yellow, purple) and Spitzer Space Telescope (red), respectively, and  optical data from the Calar Alto observatory (white). It shows the scene more than four centuries after the brilliant star explosion witnessed by Tycho Brahe and other astronomers of that era.