SN 1006
SN 1006

Over 1,000 years ago, ancient observers were treated to the celestial fireworks display of this exploded star without understanding its cause or implications. Astronomers now understand that SN (Supernova) 1006 was caused by a white dwarf star that captured mass from a companion star until the white dwarf became unstable and exploded. Recent observations of the remnant of SN 1006 reveal the release of elements such as iron that were previously locked up inside the star. These 3 printable files were created by the Chandra team from the 3D model, showing the whole remnant (printed here in yellow), and cut outs of the blast wave and ejecta. The stellar ejecta (inside material) was printed in red in this example, while the blast wave (outer shell) was printed in blue. For our 3D-printed example shown here, one color of PLA filament was used for each piece. Support structures were required, and removed after printing by using a dissolvable substrate with minimal hand-cleaning required.

3D Printing

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