Narrow-band Images of the Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
X-ray pictures of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A.
These false color pictures of supernova remnant Cas-A, the brightest diffuse X-ray source on the sky, were taken with the CCD cameras aboard the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics (ASCA). Left) The emission line map of the prominent Silicon 1.85 keV line which traced the shocked plasma of the expanding supernova remnant. Right) The emission map in the line free continuum region between 3.9 and 6.2 keV. The brightness distibution in this map is similar to that of the 20 cm radio contiuum map and suggests a common origin - non-thermal sychrotron emission from accelerated electrons.
The picture was processed at NASA's Goddard Space flight Center, which supplied ASCA's telescope mirrors; the CCD cameras were developed at MIT, and the satellite was launched and is managed by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science in Japan.
Photo Credit: Dr. Eric V. Gotthelf, Columbia University. The above author grants permission to reproduce part or all of this image for non-commercial educational use only so long as the photo credit is displayed.
This document is maintained by Eric Gotthelf 212-864-9047, eric@astro.columbia.edu