Kepler's Supernova

1604 Supernova
2004 Composite Image
2004 Chandra High Energy X-Rays
2004 Chandra Low Energy X-Rays
2004 Hubble Visible Light
2004 Spitzer Infrared Radiation
Telescope Details
Principal Investigators

The Spitzer Infrared image shows heated microscopic dust particles swept up by the supernova shock wave.

The Hubble sees the brightest, densest regions of this material. The Spitzer telescope is sensitive enough to detect the entire, expanding, spherical cloud of material.

Spitzer's spectrographs have revealed information about the composition of the gas and dust ejected by the star. It is similar to the cloud from which the Sun and the planets condensed.