51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Pull back from the supernova remnant G292.0+1.8. This supernova remnant (SNR) lies around 20,000 light years from Earth. This is one of only three SNRs in the Milky Way known to contain large amounts of oxygen. These oxygen-rich supernovae are of great interest to astronomers because they are one of the primary sources of the heavy elements (everything other than hydrogen and helium) necessary to form planets and people. This image shows a rapidly expanding, intricately structured debris field that contains, along with oxygen (yellow and orange), other elements such as magnesium (green) and silicon and sulfur (blue) that were forged in the star before it exploded. Imaged by the Chandra X-ray Observatory