<p>Seen in a new <a href="http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMNPE72Q8H_index_0.html">composite</a> of long-wavelength infrared and x-ray images, supernova remnant W44 propagates through space as a hundred-light-year-wide purple sphere of gas, superheated to millions of degrees. The exploded star is now a <a href="http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/pulsars.html">pulsar—a spinning neutron star</a>—visible above as a large, light blue-tinted smudge. (Related: "<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081016-gamma-rays-pulsar.html">Gamma Ray Telescope Finds First 'Invisible' Pulsar</a>.")</p>
Elegantly Wasted
Seen in a new composite of long-wavelength infrared and x-ray images, supernova remnant W44 propagates through space as a hundred-light-year-wide purple sphere of gas, superheated to millions of degrees. The exploded star is now a pulsar—a spinning neutron star—visible above as a large, light blue-tinted smudge. (Related: "Gamma Ray Telescope Finds First 'Invisible' Pulsar.")
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