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G327.1-1.1: Pushing the Envelope
G327.1-1.1
G327.1-1.1
G327.1-1.1
Visual Description:

  • G327 is the aftermath of a star that exploded as a supernova.

  • In the composite, X-rays are blue, radio data are red and yellow, and infrared data show the stars in the field.

  • A rapidly spinning neutron star left behind is producing the wind of relativistic particles seen in X-rays.

G327.1-1.1 is the aftermath of a massive star that exploded as a supernova in the Milky Way galaxy. A highly magnetic, rapidly spinning neutron star called a pulsar was left behind after the explosion and is producing a wind of relativistic particles, seen in X-rays by Chandra and XMM-Newton (blue) as well as in the radio data (red and yellow). This structure is called a pulsar wind nebula. The likely location of the spinning neutron star is shown in the labeled version. The large red circle shows radio emission from the blast wave, and the composite image also contains infrared data from the 2MASS survey (red, green, and blue) that show the stars in the field.

No clear explanation is yet known for the unusual nature of G327.1-1.1, including the off-center position of the pulsar wind nebula seen in the radio data and the comet-like shape of the X-ray emission. One possibility is that we are seeing the effects of a shock wave bouncing backwards off of the shell of material swept up by the blast wave produced by the explosion, the so-called "reverse shock" from the blast wave. The pulsar is moving upwards, away from the center of the explosion, but the pulsar wind nebula is being swept towards the bottom-left of the image by the reverse shock wave that is also traveling towards the bottom-left. The direction of the pulsar's motion and of the reverse shock are shown in the labeled version.

G327

The X-ray observations allow scientists to estimate the energy released during the supernova explosion and the age of the remnant, as well as the amount of material being swept up as the blast wave from the explosion expands. The faint bubble that the pulsar appears to be creating may also be revealing the fresh pulsar wind being blown into the region cleared out by the reverse shock.

A paper describing these results appeared in The Astrophysical Journal in February 2009 with Tea Temim of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Patrick Slane (CfA), Bryan Gaensler (University of Sydney), Jack Hughes (Rutgers) and Eric Van Der Swaluw (Royal Netherlands Meterological Institute) as authors.

Visual Description:

G327.1-1.1 is an image of a supernova remnant. The image features a nebulous red, orange, blue and purple object in the center of the image, surrounded by smaller white dots all around, like many pricks of light seen through a dark cloth. The larger red part of the object has a somewhat circular shape, like a red cloud or nebula, with the orange, blue and purple featured in an irregular blobby shape at its center. G327.1-1.1 is the aftermath of a massive star that exploded in the Milky Way galaxy. A highly magnetic, rapidly spinning neutron star called a pulsar was left behind after the explosion and is producing a wind of relativistic particles, seen in X-rays by Chandra and XMM-Newton (blue and purple) as well as in the radio data (red-orange). This structure is called a pulsar wind nebula. The larger red circular structure shows radio emission from the blast wave, and the composite image also contains infrared data from the 2MASS survey (white) that shows the stars in the field.

 

Fast Facts for G327.1-1.1:
Credit  X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/T.Temim et al. and ESA/XMM-Newton Radio: SIFA/MOST and CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA; Infrared: UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF/2MASS
Release Date  October 5, 2010
Scale  Image is 25 arcmin on a side (211 light years on a side).
Category  Supernovas & Supernova Remnants, Neutron Stars/X-ray Binaries
Coordinates (J2000)  RA 15h 54m 25.0s | Dec -55° 04´ 06.0"
Constellation  Norma
Observation Date  07/15/2001
Observation Time  14 hours
Obs. ID  1955
Instrument  ACIS
References Temim, T, et al, 2009, ApJ 691:895-906
Color Code  X-ray (Blue); Radio [MOST] (Red); Radio [ATCA] (Yellow); Infrared (RGB)
Radio
IR
X-ray
Distance Estimate  About 29000 light years
distance arrow
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