Fact Sheet
Stellar Cyclops
The neutron-star remnant of a once mighty star peers from an expanding cloud of gas and dust that was expelled when the star exploded. The explosion, known as a supernova, took place about 2,000 years ago as seen from Earth. The cloud around the neutron star, known as supernova remnant RCW 103, is expanding at millions of miles per hour. This image, from the orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory, shows different chemical elements within the cloud as different colors. [NASA/CXC/Penn State/G.Garmire et al]
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