NASA recently shared breathtaking images that the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory captured. The photos show different kinds of light and have since gone viral on social media.
The American space agency wrote that space telescopes and technologies on the ground helped them capture the said images.
"By our powers combined," NASA said, referencing the famous Captain Planet's catchphrase, it could help them investigate the different cosmic phenomena.
NASA Shares Breathtaking Images of Purple Space Lightning, Other Kinds of Cosmic Light in Social Media
Purple Lightning Sprawls Across the Cosmos
One of the images NASA shared on its recent Instagram post was a streak of purple lightning that sprawls across the cosmos from a stellar corpse. The space agency explained that light and energy twist and turn due to their tumultuous relationship with a white dwarf and a variable red giant star known as R Aquarii (RAqr), Space.com reported.
The Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory captured the magnificent energetic objects that look like a fiery volcanic cloud with a giant purple lightning streak piercing through it. The image shows that the white dwarf and the R Aqr are orbiting one another in which the white dwarf is pulling material from the red giant star onto its own.
Astronomers said that when the white dwarf pulls enough material, it triggers an explosion that emits intense energy to space, a phenomenon that has been observed before based on older data.
According to NASA, the Hubble has captured the red and blue structures shown in the image while the data from Chandra features the purple space lightning. They said that this lightning is the jet of energy coming from the white dwarf as it interacts with the surrounding material that will likely create shock waves when the jet hits them.
NASA Captures Images of Different Kinds of Light
Aside from the purple space lightning that NASA captured, the space agency also shared two other images showing different kinds of lights in the universe. NASA explained that light and energy emitted by the cosmos come in many forms.
In the caption, they wrote: "Chandra's X-ray-observing abilities let us explore super hot and energetic processes found throughout the universe."
Tech2 reported that the second image from NASA showed the photo of Guitar Nebula and an X-ray stream that is in color pink jetting out from a pulsar. The ray is noticeably almost perpendicular to the nebula.
Meanwhile, the third photo features the spiral galaxy colliding into another galaxy. NASA said that the gravitational interactions between the two could lead to the birth of new stars. In combination with the data from Hubble Space Telescope, they were able to generate an image consisting of purple X-rays.
The three photos left astronomy enthusiasts in awe, given the exceptional cosmic phenomena shown in the images. Some even commented that they were mesmerized by the beauty of the cosmos. Below are the three images from NASA compiled in a video by Space.com.
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