Chandra Release - June 28, 2012

Visual Description: IGR J11014-6103

This is a multipanel composite image of a pulsar named IGR J11014-6103.  The pulsar appears in a closeup in the upper right as a bright green spot, like a little glow worm, against a dark background.  The shape of the surrounding supernova remnant can be described as an irregular slightly oval-shaped nebula, with a bright magenta-purple color that stands out against the dark background littered with tiny stars.   X-ray observations from Chandra (shown in green) and XMM-Newton (purple) have been combined with infrared data from the 2MASS project and optical data from the Digitized Sky Survey (appearing in the image as white).  The large nebulous area of diffuse X-rays seen by XMM-Newton was produced when a massive star exploded as a supernova, leaving behind a debris field, or supernova remnant known as SNR MSH 11-16A. Shocks waves from the supernova have heated surrounding gas to several million degrees Kelvin, causing the remnant to glow brightly in X-rays.  The Chandra image in the inset reveals a comet-shaped X-ray source well outside the boundary of the supernova remnant. This source consists of a point-like object with a long tail trailing behind it for about 3 light years. The bright star nearby and also the one in SNR MSH11-16A are both likely to be foreground stars unrelated to the supernova remnant.