Morphing animation
This animation morphs an image taken by me using optical band emission line filters with a composite image from the Chandra website using Radio, Optical and XRAY bands.
The strong synchrotron emission in the core region, driven by a rapidly spinning neutron star's strong magnetic field powers this supernova remnant. The morphing animation permits the viewer to correlate the XRAY and Radio emitting regions with the visible optical structure as viewed through narrowband emission line filters. The optical emission line filters only allow the light of singly ionized Sulfur, singly ionized Oxygen and Hydrogen to pass. Viewing the nebula through the emission line filters helps to visualize the ionization structures. Adding the Radio and XRAY wavelengths gives a greater degree of visualization to the complex physical processes in this very interesting object.
Component images follow:
Beginning Frame
Amateur image taken in emission line filters
Red= [SII], Green= Hydrogen Alpha, Blue= [OIII]
Professional image taken in Radio, XRAY and Optical bands
Red= Radio, Green= Optical, Blue= XRAY (Chandra Data)
(Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ASU/J. Hester et al.; Optical: NASA/HST/ASU/J. Hester et al.; Radio: VLA/NRAO)
Blend of the optical emission line image and composite Radio/Optical/XRAY images from above.