Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - 16

Supernova Remnants
CRAB NEBULA This infrared
composite of Messier 1 reveals
the familiar cage-like structure,
traced here by doubly ionized
sulfur (red-orange). Dusty
ridges lie within (yellow-white
and green). The " fog " is synchrotron
radiation, generated
by particles zipping around the
magnetic fields of the central
neutron star, which sits at the
center of the ripple-like ring.
(continued from page 13)
The boundary between the compressed circumstellar
Postmortem Report
Supernova remnants tend to share a basic structure. When a
big star explodes, it propels a blast wave out into the surrounding
gas, called the circumstellar medium. The circumstellar
medium is often stuff thrown off by the aging star as it neared
death. The blast wave rams through this gas and compresses
and heats it, making it glow for a time. This bright boundary
around the remnant expands as the blast wave travels.
Bringing up the rear is the supernova debris. The debris
races outward, cooling as it goes. But it doesn't stay cool
forever. The outermost ejecta slams into the circumstellar
medium, putting the brakes on the ejecta's expansion and
making a hot shell. The debris flying out right behind this
ejecta then collides with the shell, creating a shock wave that
rebounds inward, back toward the center. As this shock wave
passes through the cold ejecta in the remnant's interior, it
reheats the material to millions of degrees.
16 MAY 2024 * SKY & TELESCOPE
medium and the hot ejecta shell is often wrinkled and nubbly,
due to their different densities.
But beyond this general semblance, remnants are as
variegated as people. That's because different kinds of stars
go kaboom, and they do so in different environments. A
remnant is a complex interplay of nature and nurture, and
teasing the history apart keeps astronomers plenty busy.
For example, when big stars' cores collapse under their
own weight, they tend to make asymmetric remnants. Cassiopeia
A is a prime example. Work by Tyler Holland-Ashford
(Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian) and
others shows that heavy elements formed at the center of
the explosion that made Cas A are scattered haphazardly in
the remnant - more so than the lighter elements made in
the star's outer layers. Previous work also indicated that the
heaviest, nickel-rich material in the remnant raced out ahead
of the other, lighter ejecta. It's as though the explosion was
inside-out.
NASA / ESA / CSA / STSCI / T. TEMIM (PRINCETON UNIV.)

Sky & Telescope - May 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - May 2024

Contents
Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - Cover1
Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - Cover2
Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - 1
Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - Contents
Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - 3
Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - 4
Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - 5
Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - 6
Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - 7
Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - 8
Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - 9
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Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - Cover3
Sky & Telescope - May 2024 - Cover4
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