An Exploded Star's Remains and Its Murky Environment

An Exploded Star's Remains and Its Murky Environment: Supernova remnant W44 is the focus of this new image created by combining data from the European Space Agency's Herschel and XMM-Newton space observatories. W44 is the vast purple sphere that dominates the left hand side of this image, and measures about 100 light-years across. XMM-Newton data reveal that the remnant is filled with X-ray emission from extremely hot gas.Herschel's three-colour infrared view comprises PACS 70 and 160 micron and SPIRE 250 micron images. X-ray data from XMM-Newton's EPIC instrument for W44 only has been added in light and dark blue to represent high- (2–8 keV) and low-energy (1.2–2 keV) X-ray emission, respectively. The field of view is about one degree across. North is towards the bottom left of the image; east is to the top right. Credit: ESA/NASA

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