(ORDO NEWS) — Here is the remnant of the young supernova Kes 73, about 28,000 light-years from Earth. At the center of the remnant is an anomalous X-ray pulsar (ARP).
Astronomers believe that most ARPs are magnetars , which are neutron stars with superstrong magnetic fields.
The remnant of Kes 73 surrounding the bright ARP has an expanding shell of debris from a massive star that has neared the end of its life cycle and exploded into a supernova.
This event occurred between 750 and 2100 years ago as seen from Earth (not including the time it took for light to travel through expanding space).
The image (above) is the result of the concatenation:
- X-ray data from NASA‘s Chandra Space Telescope (blue);
- Infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (orange);
- Radio data from the Very Large Antenna Array (red);
- Optical data from the Digital Sky Survey (white).
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