Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/I.Lovchinsky et al, IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech

G350.1+0.3 is a young and exceptionally bright supernova remnant in our Galaxy. While many supernova remnants are nearly circular, G350.1+0.3 is strikingly asymmetrical as seen in a new composite image of X-rays from Chandra (gold) and infrared data from Spitzer (light blue). Astronomers think that this bizarre shape is due to the stellar debris field expanding into a nearby cloud of cold molecular gas. With an age of between 600 and 1,200 years old, G350.1+0.3 is in the same time frame as other famous supernovas that formed the Crab and SN 1006 supernova remnants. However, it is unlikely that anyone on Earth would have seen the explosion because of the obscuring gas and dust that lies along our line of sight to the remnant.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/g350/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html