The tilted supernova

A combined image from the three major space observatories reveals why supernova N49 appears to be tipping on its side

Hubble, Chandra, and Spitzer, NASA's three largest space telescopes, teamed up to create this beautiful photo of the supernova remnant N49. In visible light, this is the remnant of the explosion of the brightest star in the Large Magellanic Cloud - one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way.

This supernova has a strange shape. She looks like she's leaning on her side. This is unusual because most supernova remnants are spherical.

The astronomers used Spitzer and Chandra to map gas and dust in the supernova region. The new data led the scientists to conclude that the odd shape is due to the remnants of the exploded star spreading into a region of denser gas on one side.

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