Cassiopeia A

Cassiopeia A — nebula, explore its interactive 3D model in Cosmoscope.

Explore Cassiopeia A in an interactive 3D view of space. Inspect its astronomical data and the observations or reconstructions behind the model.

The debris of a star torn apart around 1680, expanding at thousands of kilometres per second. This view preserves the asymmetric NASA/Chandra 3D shape, based on Salvatore Orlando’s scientific model. Fine gas clumps and the placement of the telescope colours are illustrative.

Type

Supernova remnant

Exploded

Light arrived ~1680

Distance

11,000 light-years

Heart

A neutron star

Shown here

NASA/Chandra scientific model rendered as translucent gas

Colours

Assigned telescope colours; local gas texture is illustrative

Explore Cassiopeia A in 3D

Cassiopeia A is placed in three-dimensional space using catalogue coordinates and an adopted astronomical distance. Rotate and zoom to explore the model. Stellar surfaces, gas structure and dust depths may be reconstructed or illustrative, as described in its facts; this is not live imagery from a telescope.