Chandra Release - August 26, 2019

Visual Description: Cassiopeia A

The X-ray and optical image of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A features a large, bright, and colorful filled donut-like structure in the center. The object appears to be shaped like a cloud or a ball, with bright shades of purple, blue, yellow, green and pink colors. These colors are indicative of the different temperatures and elements present within the supernova remnant. The still image is from a timelapse video that shows the evolution of Cassiopeia A over time, showing incredibly hot gas - about 20 million degrees Fahrenheit - in the remnant expanding outward. The Chandra X-ray Observatory data have been combined with data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble shows delicate filamentary structures of cooler gases with temperatures of about 20,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The video shows Chandra observations of Cas A from 2000 to 2013. A bright blue outer region of Cas A shows the expanding blast wave of the explosion.