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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                   2023 March 3   
      
                       RCW 86: Historical Supernova Remnant   
           Image Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA, T.A. Rector (Univ.of   
                              Alaska/NSFCÇÖs NOIRLab),   
      J. Miller (Gemini Obs./NSFCÇÖs NOIRLab), M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSFCÇÖs   
                                     NOIRLab)   
      
      Explanation: In 185 AD, Chinese astronomers recorded the appearance of   
      a new star in the Nanmen asterism. That part of the sky is identified   
      with Alpha and Beta Centauri on modern star charts. The new star was   
      visible to the naked-eye for months, and is now thought to be the   
      earliest recorded supernova. This deep telescopic view reveals the   
      wispy outlines of emission nebula RCW 86, just visible against the   
      starry background, understood to be the remnant of that stellar   
      explosion. Captured by the wide-field Dark Energy Camera operating at   
      Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, the image traces the   
      full extent of a ragged shell of gas ionized by the still expanding   
      shock wave. Space-based images indicate an abundance of the element   
      iron in RCW 86 and the absence of a neutron star or pulsar within the   
      remnant, suggesting that the original supernova was Type Ia. Unlike the   
      core collapse supernova explosion of a massive star, a Type Ia   
      supernova is a thermonuclear detonation on a white dwarf star that   
      accretes material from a companion in a binary star system. Near the   
      plane of our Milky Way galaxy and larger than the full moon on the sky   
      this supernova remnant is too faint to be seen by eye though. RCW 86 is   
      some 8,000 light-years distant and around 100 light-years across.   
      
                 Tomorrow's picture: 10 days of Venus and Jupiter   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.   
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                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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