Cassiopeia A
Image
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About this Image

Cassiopeia A is the remnant of a supernova explosion that occured over 300 years ago in our Galaxy, at a distance of about 11,000 light years from us. Its name is derived from the constellation in which it is seen: Cassiopeia, the Queen. A supernova is the explosion that occurs at the end of a massive star's life; and Cassiopeia A is the expanding shell of material that remains from such an explosion. This radio image of Cassiopeia A was created with the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array telescope in New Mexico. This image was made at 3 different frequencies: 1.4 GHz (L band), 5.0 GHz (C band), and 8.4 GHz (X band). Cassiopeia A is one of the brightest radio sources in the sky, and has been a popular target of study for radio astronomers for decades. The material that was ejected from the supernova explosion can be seen in this image as bright filaments.

Investigator(s):  L. Rudnick, T. Delaney, J. Keohane & B. Koralesky, image composite by T. Rector

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Technical Data

    Telescope VLA 
    Date of Observation 1994-03-25 
    Type of Observation Continuum Observations 
    Center of Image RA: 23:21:13.00, Dec: 58:32:35.00 (B1950)  
    Field of View 0.1000 x 0.1000 degrees  

  • Astronomical database entries for Cas A
    • Query SIMBAD for more Cas A data
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