WISE sees an explosion of infrared light
Friday, December 10, 2010 - 12:20
in Astronomy & Space
A circular rainbow appears like a halo around an exploded star in a new view of the IC 443 nebula from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. When massive stars die, they explode in tremendous blasts, called supernovae, which send out shock waves. The shock waves sweep up and heat surrounding gas and dust, creating supernova remnants like the one pictured in the new image. The supernova in IC 443 happened somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago.