NASA Images Remnant of Oldest Known Supernova

Astronomers using two NASA telescopes were recently able to produce a new image of a supernova remnant that is believed to have been caused by a stellar explosion which was first seen by Chinese astronomers around 185 AD.

The Spitzer Space Telescope and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), both of which operate in infrared wavelengths, contributed to this new image of the object RCW 86. Astronomers took a long time to discover the object that lit up the sky nearly two millennia ago.

The color-coding visible in this image is used to help experts differentiate between background light coming from our galaxy and the light emitted by the supernova remnant itself. This enables the creation of models that show the exact structure of the supernova remnant.

As you can easily see, the supernova remnant is hollow on the inside, and fairly large for an object this young. Astronomers hypothesize that stellar winds are responsible for spreading the gas so far away, so fast.