NASA’s Chandra Reveals ‘Red, White, Blue’ Universe for US 250th

The images are accompanied by a trio of new sonifications – a technique that translates astronomical data into sounds. In celebration of the 250th birthday of the United States, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has unveiled four cosmic images rendered in red, white, and blue that represent the wonders of the universe that NASA explores. NASA/CXC/SAO The image set begins with Cassiopeia A in the top panel, where X-rays from Chandra (represented in blue and purple) have been combined with an infrared image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (red and white). Chandra’s X-ray vision reveals the blast wave that tore through the star, as well as elements in the debris field like iron, calcium, and oxygen. Webb’s infrared data also shows the expanding shell of material from the explosion and cosmic dust throughout the remnant. In the bottom row, the first image on the left is the nebula NGC 3603, which contains a massive cluster of stars and is located in the Milky Way Galaxy. This new composite image contains Chandra’s X-ray data (red and white) and shows diffuse emissions near the galaxy’s center along with point-like X-ray sources throughout the middle of the image. Optical, infrared, and ultraviolet light from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (red-orange, green, blue, and yellow) reveal stars in the center of the image and dust and gas toward the bottom. The combined layering of the colors makes this nebula and the stars forming within it appear primarily red, white, and blue, with X-rays showing the sparkling lights of young stars. The middle panel of the bottom row is a new look at the galaxy NGC 4736, also known as Messier 94. In this image, X-rays of different wavelen