Image 7-25
LMC Supernova Remnant

This is a composite image of N49, the brightest supernova remnant in optical light in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). It was formed when a gigantic star exploded and ejected massive amounts of material into space. The Chandra X-ray image (blue) shows million-degree gas in the center. Much cooler gas at the outer parts of the remnant is seen in the infrared image from Spitzer (red). While astronomers expected that dust particles were generating most of the infrared emission, the study of this object indicates that much of the infrared is instead generated in heated gas.