The aftershock of a stellar explosion rippling¹ through space is captured in this new view of supernova（超新星） remnant W44, which combines far-infrared and X-ray data from ESA's Herschel and XMM-Newton space observatories². W44, located around 10,000 light-years away within a forest of dense³ star-forming clouds in the constellation⁴ of Aquila, the Eagle, is one of the best examples of a supernova remnant interacting with its parent molecular⁵ cloud.

 

The product of a massive star that has already reached the end of its life and expelled its outer layers in a dramatic explosion, all that remains⁶ of the stellar behemoth（巨兽，河马） is the spinning core of a neutron⁷ star, or pulsar.

 

Identified as PSR B1853+01, the pulsar（脉冲星） is the bright point to the top left in W44, coloured light blue in this image.

 

It is thought to be around 20,000 years old and as it rapidly rotates it sweeps out a wind of highly energetic particles and beams of light ranging from radio to X-ray energies.

 

The centre of the supernova remnant is also bright in X-rays, coming from the hot gas that fills the shell, at temperatures of several million degrees. Dense knots of high-energy emission⁸ reflect regions where heavier elements are more commonly found.

 

At the cooler edge of the cavity, gas is swept up as the supernova remnant propagates through space.

 

At the top right of the expanding shell, there is a smaller cavity, with the shock from the supernova remnant impacting the bight arc-shaped feature. This region is filled with hot gas that has been ionised by the intense ultraviolet radiation from embedded⁹ young massive stars.

 

Herschel's far-infrared eyes can also seek out regions of gently heated gas and dust further from W44, where new stars are congregating¹⁰.

 

Examples include the arrowhead-shaped star-formation region to the right of W44, which appears to point to another trio of intricate（复杂的） clouds further to the right and above.

 

More broadly, a number of compact objects scattered¹¹ across the scene map the cold seeds of future stars that will eventually emerge from their dusty cocoons¹²（蚕茧）.

 

Finally, diffuse¹³ purple emission towards the bottom left of the image provides a glimpse of the Galactic plane.

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