Fact Sheet
A Dose of Magnesium
The element magnesium glows blue-green in this X-ray image of the remains of an exploded star. The star created magnesium by combining the nuclei of lighter elements, then spewed the material into space when it exploded as a supernova. The explosion took place about 10,000 years ago as seen from Earth, creating a cloud of material that is still expanding into space. This cloud is known as N49B, and was imaged by the space-based Chandra X-Ray Observatory. [NASA/CXC/Penn State/S.Park et al.]
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