Kepler's supernova remnant
author: NASA/ESA/Novapix
reference: a-snv11-00302
Image Size 300 DPI: 30 * 29 cm
Visible-light images from the Hubble telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys reveal where the supernova shock wave is slamming into the densest regions of surrounding gas. The bright glowing knots are dense clumps from instabilities that form behind the shock wave. The Hubble data also show thin filaments of gas that look like rippled sheets seen edge-on. These filaments reveal where the shock wave is encountering lower-density, more uniform interstellar material. Hubble's image was taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on August 28/29, 2003 & May 26, 2004 for a total of 6.5 hours