Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2026 June 18
      [2]A composite image shows a field of stars on a dark background,
                  together X-rays in blue and radio in red

                Possible Supernova Remnant in Galactic Center
    Image Credit & Copyright: X-ray: [3]NASA/[4]CXC/[5]UCLA/[6]Z. Zhu et
    al.; [7]ESA/[8]XMM-Newton; Optical: [9]PanSTARRS; Radio: [10]MeerKAT;
    Image Processing: [11]NASA/[12]CXC/[13]SAO/[14]L. Frattare and [15]P.
                                   Edmonds
   Text: [16]Cecilia Chirenti ([17]NASA [18]GSFC, [19]UMCP, [20]CRESST II)

   Explanation: Do you see that blue blob to the lower right of the image
   center? Astronomers think that it shows where a massive star
   [21]exploded as a supernova whose light reached Earth [22]1,700 years
   ago. The [23]image combines optical data from the [24]PanSTARRS
   telescopes in Hawaii (background stars in red, green, and blue), radio
   from the [25]MeerKAT telescope in South Africa (large red cloud) and
   X-rays from [26]NASA's [27]Chandra X-ray Observatory and [28]ESA’s
   [29]XMM-Newton (shown in blue). The large cloud is a [30]star forming
   region called [31]Sagittarius C, which is approximately 50
   [32]light-years in extent and about 26,000 light-years from [33]Earth.
   It is located only about 260 light-years from the [34]supermassive
   black hole in the center of the Galaxy (off to the [35]left of the
   image). If the [36]blue blob is confirmed to be a [37]supernova
   remnant, it would be one of the closest ever discovered to the
   [38]Galactic Center. In this [39]dense region, the deaths of massive
   stars are connected to the birth of new stars through gas and magnetic
   fields in a complex way.

                         Tomorrow's picture: Vincent
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [51]Robert Nemiroff ([52]MTU) & [53]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([54]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [55]Specific rights apply.
            [56]NASA Web Privacy, [57]Accessibility, [58]Notices;
                A service of: [59]ASD at [60]NASA / [61]GSFC,
                         [62]NASA Science Activation
                           & [63]Michigan Tech. U.

References

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