NASA / CXC / SAO, NASA / STSCI, NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSC, ESO / NAOJ / NRO, NRAO / AUI / NSF, NASA / CXC / SAO / PSU, and NASA / ESA
NASA’s Lunar X-Ray Observatory is a super powerful telescope named after Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Subramanian Chandrasekhar. It has a history of discovering some incredible astronomy. It provides the first light image of a supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. In the year 2000, high school students used data from a telescope to find a neutron star in a supernova remnant IC 443.
Now it has helped create some glowing images of galaxies, stars, planetary nebulae and supernova fossils.
At the risk of being clear: the place is very wild.
To be clear, these images do not necessarily represent what can be seen with the human eye. They have been put together using data not only from the moon, but from many other sources. Using data across many different spectra, from radio waves to gamma rays, NASA is taking what it calls a “multivavelength” approach.
Let’s go through it all.
M82
X-rays: NASA / CXC; Optical: NASA / STSCI
Not to be confused with the ailing French band M83, NASA says the M82 is a galaxy that is “Earth-oriented”.
Abal 2744
NASA / CXC; Optical: NASA / STSCI
Galaxy cluster image using data from the Moon and Hubble Telescopes.
Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A)
Radio: Alma (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO), p. Seagan and R. Indibatou; NRAO / AUI / NSF, B Suxton; X-ray: NASA / CXC / SAO / PSU / K. Frank et al .; Optical: NASA / STSCI
Probably. The wildest image of flour. According to NASA, this is an image of “the brightest supernova explosion in centuries.”
Eta Carrie
NASA / CXC; Ultraviolet / Optical: NASA / STSCI; Combined image: NASA / ESA / N. Smith (University of Arizona), j. Mores (Boldlego organizations) and a
NASA has described Eta Carinen as “an unstable system with two giant stars orbiting each other closely.”
Cartwheel Galaxy
X-rays: NASA / CXC; Optical: NASA / STSCI
When Fritz Zwicky discovered the galaxy in 1941, he described it as “one of the most complex constructions awaiting its explanation based on the dynamics of the stars.” Its diameter is 150,000 light years.
Helix nebula
X-rays: NASA / CXC; Ultraviolet: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSC; Optical: NASA / STSCI (M. Maxner) / ESA / NRAO (TA Rector); Infrared: NASA / JPL-Caltech / K. Su
It looks like a giant eyeball ball, but the helix nebula is actually a star coming out of fuel. Apparently the same thing could happen to our sun in 5 billion years.
