Dead Exploded Star Resurrected in 3-D

The dying remains of an exploded star have been resurrected in a new three-dimensional film that flies through the ancient supernova.

At center stage in the new movie is Cassiopeia A, a dead star that exploded about 330 years ago to forge one of the youngest supernova graves in the Milky Way galaxy.

Astronomers used observations from several ground- and space-based telescopes to build the 3-D voyage through the supernova, which starts at the remnant?s neutron star core. The movie then pulls back to reveal the wispy, gaseous remains of Cassiopeia A in hues of red, green, yellow and blue to mark materials seen in different wavelengths.

"We have always wanted to know how the pieces we see in two dimensions fit together with each other in real life," said Tracey Delaney of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose team reconstructed the event. "Now we can see for ourselves with this 'hologram' of supernova debris."

The movie and a separate study on the same supernova remnant were announced this week at the 213th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, Calif.

In the separate study, astronomers collected a series of time-lapse images of Cassiopeia A?s recent evolution using eight years of observations from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. That study found that 30 percent of the supernova?s energy ended up as high-speed cosmic rays.

And by virtually flying through the supernova remnant, scientists discovered two separate components: a spherical outer shell and a flat, disk-like inner layer. Jets of silicon and iron were spotted in the inner disk, but scientists were surprised to see their broad, disk-like structure, researchers said. The finding suggests that the innermost layers of an exploding star erupt as high-speed plumes, while the outermost regions expand like a spherical bubble.

"With Chandra, we have watched Cas A over a relatively small amount of its life, but so far the show has been amazing," said astronomer Daniel Patnaude of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. "And, we can use this to learn more about the aftermath of the star's explosion."

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