Nasa releases new images of stars, and galaxies
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Nasa has revealed some new images from its Chandra telescope, and they are incredible.
The images are of galaxies, stars, planetary nebulas and supernova remnants.
They are not photographs, the colourful images have been put together using data from Chandra and other sources.
M82
M82 is a galaxy that is "oriented edge-on to Earth".
Abell 2744
This is an image of a cluster of galaxies which was made from the Chandra and Hubble telescopes' data.
Supernova
Nasa says this is an image of one of the "brightest supernova explosions in centuries". A supernova is a powerful and luminous stellar explosion.
Eta Carinae
Nasa explains Eta Carinae as "a volatile system containing two massive stars that closely orbit each other".
Cartwheel Galaxy
This galaxy was discovered in 1941 by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky, who said it was "one of the most complicated structures awaiting its explanation on the basis of stellar dynamics."
And it's huge - 150,000 light years in diameter to be precise!
Helix Nebula
The Helix Nebula, which is in the constellation Aquarius, is actually a star running out of fuel. The same thing could happen to our Sun in five billion years' time.
A nebula is basically an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases.
- Published8 September 2020
- Published27 April 2020