Cassiopeia A

Cassiopeia A

 strongest source of radio emission in the sky beyond the solar system, located in the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia about 9,000 light-years from Earth. Cassiopeia A, abbreviated Cas A, is the remnant of a supernova explosion caused by the collapse of a massive star. The light from the event is estimated to have reached Earth about 1667, which makes Cas A the youngest known supernova remnant in the Milky Way Galaxy. Although the explosion must have been very powerful, no contemporary record exists of its having been observed, so the explosion may have happened behind an interstellar dust cloud. Today the remnant is also weakly observable at visible, infrared, and X-ray wavelengths, and it appears as an expanding ring of material approximately five arc minutes in diameter. The expansion rate of the remnant has been used to estimate how long ago the explosion occurred.

John Donald Fernie
 

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Cassiopeia — can refer to: * Cassiopeia (mythology) (or Casseipeia), a queen of Ethiopia in Greek mythology. See also Boast of Cassiopeia. * Cassiopeia (constellation), a northern constellation representing the queen. * Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant in… …   Wikipedia

  • Cassiopeia — Cas si*o*pe ia, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ?.] (Astron.) A constellation of the northern hemisphere, situated between Cepheus and Perseus; so called in honor of the wife of Cepheus, a fabulous king of Ethiopia. [1913 Webster] {Cassiopeia s Chair}, a group… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Cassiopéia — s. f. Constelação boreal.   ♦ [Brasil] Grafia de Cassiopeia antes do Acordo Ortográfico de 1990.   ♦ Grafia em Portugal: Cassiopeia …   Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa

  • Cassiopeia — northern constellation, in Greek mythology queen of Ethiopia and mother of Andromeda, from Gk. Kassiepeia, Kassiopeia, of unknown origin …   Etymology dictionary

  • Cassiopeia — s. f. Constelação boreal …   Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa

  • Cassiopeia — [kas΄ē ō pē′ə, kas΄ē ōpē′yə] n. [L < Gr Kassiopeia] 1. Gr. Myth. the wife of Cepheus and mother of Andromeda 2. a N constellation between Andromeda and Cepheus …   English World dictionary

  • Cassiopéia — Infobox Film name = Cassiopéia |thumb|150px caption = DVD cover for Cassiopéia . director = Clóvis Veira producer = Nello de Rossi writer = Aloisio Castro José Feliciano Robin Geld Clóvis Vieira starring = Osmar Prado Jonas Mello Aldo César… …   Wikipedia

  • Cassiopeia A — Datenbanklinks zu Cassiopeia A Cassiopeia A Überlagerung vo …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cassiopeia A — Supernova name = Cassiopeia A type = IIb cite web url=http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2008 09/release.shtml title=Scientists Hold Séance for Supernova accessdate=2008 05 29] epoch = J2000 SNRtype = Shell host = Milky Way… …   Wikipedia

  • Cassiopeia — Kassiopeia oder Cassiopeia bezeichnet: Kassiopeia (Mythologie), eine Figur der griechischen Mythologie Kassiopeia (Sternbild) Cassiopeia Theater, den Namen eines Theaters Casio Cassiopeia eine Produktserie den Namen der Schildkröte des Meister… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cassiopeia — I Cassiopeia   [nach der Gestalt der griech. Mythologie], Baureihe von Palmtop Computern der Firma Casio, die mit dem Betriebssystem Windows CE laufen. II Cassiopeia,   griechischer Mythos: Kassiopeia. III …   Universal-Lexikon

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”