X-ray and Optical Images of N49
These images show N49, the aftermath of a supernova explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud. A long observation from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals evidence for a bullet-shaped object being blown out of a debris field left over from an exploded star. Optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope shows bright filaments where the shock wave generated by the supernova is interacting with the densest regions in nearby clouds of cool, molecular gas.
(Credit: X-ray: (NASA/CXC/Penn State/S.Park et al.); Optical: NASA/STScI/UIUC/Y.H.Chu & R.Williams et al)