Tour of DEM L241

When a massive star runs out fuel, it collapses and explodes as a supernova. Although these explosions are extremely powerful, it is possible for a nearby star to endure the blast. A team of astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes has found evidence for one of these survivors. This hardy star is in a stellar explosion’s debris field - also called its supernova remnant - located in an HII region called DEM L241. An HII (pronounced “H-two“) region is created when the radiation