PHOTO OF THE DAY: NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer Measures Exploded Star Remains
By NASA information center // October 23, 2022
NASA & SPACE NEWS
(NASA) – When a massive star collapsed in the Cassiopeia constellation, it generated a supernova explosion with some of the fastest shockwaves in the Milky Way.
These speedy shock waves are one of the reasons the Cassiopeia A (Cas A) supernova remnant was chosen to be our Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer’s (IXPE) first observed object.
This composite image, made of data from IXPE, the Chandra Observatory, and the Hubble Telescope, shows Cas A.
IXPE’s investigation of Cas A from Jan. 11 to Jan. 29, 2022, added crucial information about the behavior of exploded stars’ magnetic fields: scientists found that the magnetic fields in X-rays tend to be aligned in radial, not perpendicular, directions.
Polarization data also suggest that these X-rays come from turbulent regions with many different magnetic field directions.
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