Supernova Remnant N132D in X-Rays
Credit:
Chandra X-ray Observatory,
NASA
Thousands of years after a star explodes,
an expanding remnant may still glow brightly.
Such is the case with
N132D, a
supernova remnant
located in the neighboring
Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy.
The expanding shell
from this explosion now spans 80
light-years and has swept up about 600 Suns worth of mass.
The bright regions surrounding the lower right of this
X-ray image result from a collision with an even more massive
molecular cloud.
Towards the upper left, the
supernova remnant expands more rapidly into
less dense region of space.
This image is one of the first ever taken with the
High Resolution Camera onboard the orbiting
Chandra X-ray Observatory,
and records details being analyzed for the first time.