Tycho’s Supernova Remnant (SN 1572)

Tycho’s Supernova Remnant (SN 1572) — nebula, explore its interactive 3D model in Cosmoscope.

Explore Tycho’s Supernova Remnant (SN 1572) in an interactive 3D view of space. Inspect its astronomical data and the observations or reconstructions behind the model.

The expanding debris of a white dwarf that exploded in 1572, the “new star” whose study by Tycho Brahe helped overturn the idea of an unchanging sky. Its multi-million-degree gas shines in X-rays. From Earth’s side its pieces line up into Chandra’s image; fly round it and they part into its 3D shape.

Type

Supernova remnant of an exploded white dwarf (Type Ia)

Seen

November 1572, rivalling Venus; recorded by Tycho Brahe

Distance

About 8,000–9,800 light-years

Size

About 20 light-years across

Shown here

Chandra X-ray data cut into many thousands of pieces (fine threads along its filaments, broad ones only for smooth glow) at different depths: from Earth they line up into the image; from elsewhere they show a thick, clumpy shell inside the thin rim of the blast wave

3D shape

57 knots at depths from their measured Doppler shifts and motions (Williams et al. 2017); the rest of the shell illustrative

Colours

Assigned X-ray colours, low to high energy as red to blue; not visible light

Image credit

NASA/CXC/SAO · Chandra Data Archive

Explore Tycho’s Supernova Remnant (SN 1572) in 3D

Tycho’s Supernova Remnant (SN 1572) 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.