Composite Image of SN1996cr (IMAGE)

Chandra X-ray Center

Composite Image of SN1996cr

Caption

This composite image shows the central regions of the nearby Circinus galaxy, located about 12 million light years away. Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is shown in blue and data from the Hubble Space telescope is shown in yellow ("I-band"), red (hydrogen emission), cyan ("V-band") and blue (oxygen emission). The blue source near the lower right hand corner of the image is the supernova SN 1996cr, that has finally been identified over a decade after it exploded. The supernova was first singled out in 2001 as a bright, variable object in a Chandra image, but it was not confirmed as a supernova until years later, using data from a total of 18 different telescopes, nearly all of which was from archives.

Credit

X-ray (NASA/CXC/Columbia/F.Bauer et al); Optical (NASA/STScI/UMD/A.Wilson et al.)

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