The explosion is over but the consequences continue. About eleven thousand years ago a star in the constellation of Vela [ http://www.hawastso…] could be seen to explode [ http://www.youtube.…], creating a strange point of light briefly visible to humans living near the beginning of recorded history [ http://en.wikipedia…]. The outer layers of the star crashed into the interstellar medium [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], driving a shock wave [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] that is still visible today. A roughly spherical, expanding shock wave is visible in X-rays [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. The above image [ http://www.skyfacto…] captures much of that filamentary and gigantic shock in visible light [ http://imagers.gsfc…], spanning almost 100 light years [ http://chandra.harv…] and appearing twenty times the diameter of the full moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. As gas flies away from the detonated star, it decays [ http://imagine.gsfc…] and reacts with the interstellar medium, producing light in many different colors and energy bands. Remaining at the center of the Vela Supernova Remnant [ http://en.wikipedia…] is a pulsar [ http://imagine.gsfc…], a star as dense as nuclear matter that completely rotates more than ten times in a single second.
Explanation
The explosion is over but the consequences continue. About eleven thousand years ago a star in the constellation of Vela [ http://www.hawastso…] could be seen to explode [ http://www.youtube.…], creating a strange point of light briefly visible to humans living near the beginning of recorded history [ http://en.wikipedia…]. The outer layers of the star crashed into the interstellar medium [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], driving a shock wave [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] that is still visible today. A roughly spherical, expanding shock wave is visible in X-rays [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. The above image [ http://www.skyfacto…] captures much of that filamentary and gigantic shock in visible light [ http://imagers.gsfc…], spanning almost 100 light years [ http://chandra.harv…] and appearing twenty times the diameter of the full moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. As gas flies away from the detonated star, it decays [ http://imagine.gsfc…] and reacts with the interstellar medium, producing light in many different colors and energy bands. Remaining at the center of the Vela Supernova Remnant [ http://en.wikipedia…] is a pulsar [ http://imagine.gsfc…], a star as dense as nuclear matter that completely rotates more than ten times in a single second.
