Credit: NASA/NCSSM/C.Olbert et al.

Using this Chandra image, along with radio data from the Very Large Array, three high school students found evidence for a neutron star imbedded within the remains of supernova remnant IC 443. The comet-shaped appearance of the cloud of high-energy particles in the Chandra image indicates that the neutron star is moving through the remains of the stellar explosion. Using this result and the apparent distance that the neutron star has traveled from the center of the supernova remnant which is out of the image to the upper left the students calculated that the age of the neutron star and the supernova remnant is about 30,000 years.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2000/1083/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html