Fireworks in the Sky

Esahubble_opo0215a_1024

esahubble_opo0215a July 3rd, 2002

Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Glowing gaseous streamers of red, white, and blue - as well as green and pink - illuminate the heavens like Fourth of July fireworks. The colorful streamers that float across the sky in this photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope were created by the universe's biggest firecracker, the titanic supernova explosion of a massive star. The light from the exploding star reached Earth 320 years ago. The dead star's shredded remains are called Cassiopeia A, or 'Cas A' for short. Cas A is the youngest known supernova remnant in our Milky Way Galaxy and resides 10, 000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia, so the star actually blew up 10, 000 years before the light reached Earth in the late 1600s.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0215a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Cassiopeia A SNR 111.7-02.1
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Supernova Remnant
Esahubble_opo0215a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 23h 23m 28.7s
DEC = 58° 49’ 40.8”
Orientation
North is 5.5° CW
Field of View
3.7 x 2.4 arcminutes
Constellation
Cassiopeia

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Hubble (WFPC2) Infrared (Z) 850.0 nm
Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (R) 675.0 nm
Hubble (WFPC2) Ultraviolet (B) 450.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Esahubble_opo0215a_1280
×
ID
opo0215a
Subject Category
B.4.1.4  
Subject Name
Cassiopeia A, SNR 111.7-02.1
Credits
NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Release Date
2002-07-03T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0215a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Distance in light years from: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v462/n7269/full/nature08525.html
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Band
Infrared, Optical, Ultraviolet
Bandpass
Z, R, B
Central Wavelength
850, 675, 450
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
350.869473409, 58.8280020344
Reference Dimension
2226.0, 1453.0
Reference Pixel
1113.0, 726.5
Scale
-2.77012820812e-05, 2.77012820812e-05
Rotation
-5.5400000000000071
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
opo0215a
Metadata Date
2003-12-09T17:20:28+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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