Post by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

This sparkly, swirly cosmic object is Messier 83 (M83), a galaxy located 15 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. By studying data from our Chandra X-ray Observatory, researchers found over 20 previously identified supernova remnants — remains from stars that exploded — that vary unexpectedly in X-ray brightness in M83. This is surprising because supernova remnants typically fade in X-rays slowly over time.