A Sample of ROSAT Images
refer also to the ROSAT archive gallery for more images
This image, taken by ROSAT's Position Sensitive Proportional Counters, shows glowing hot gas (purple) in between three bright energy sources (galaxies.) But the mass (gravitational attraction) of the galaxies is not enough to contain this glowing gas in a neat ball. There must be additional gravitational force, supporting the notion of dark matter -- the nature and abundance of which is one of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics.
(Credit: NASA)
This image shows three supernova remnants, as seen by ROSAT's Position Sensitive Proportional Counters. The smaller, bright ball on the right is the Puppis A SNR. The large fiery ball is the Vela SNR. The bright section in the lower left corner of Vela SNR has very recently been identified as a third SNR, yet unnamed.
(Credit: MPE)
The active binary star system AR Lac, as seen by ROSAT's Position Sensitive Proportional Counters. The binary system, two stars orbiting each other, is contained within the large, bright source near the center of the field. The X-ray energy from the binary source radiates outward symmetrically. Strong flares from the source peak at 100,000 times the typical X-ray luminosity of the Sun.
(Credit: MPE)
This image of the entire sky in low-energy X-ray (0.25 keV) is from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey, completed during the first 1/2 year (1990-91) of the ROSAT Mission. The large blue areas across the galactic plane reveals concentrations of dust and gas dispersed throughout the Milky Way. The red areas at the top and bottom of the image reveal X-ray sources from galaxies and supernova remnants outside our galaxy. Supernova remnants such as Puppis A and Cygnus are shown as red balls within the blue of the galactic plane.
(Credit: MPE and S. L. Snowden)
The first X-ray image of a comet. Here, comet Hyakutake, as observed by ROSAT's High Resolution Imager. The X-rays arise primarily from a crescent-shaped region with a diameter of about 50,000 km, on the sunlit side of the comet, produced by the interaction the comet's gas and fast-moving subatomic particles in the solar wind.
(Credit: NASA and MPE)
The Moon, as observed by ROSAT's Position Sensitive Proportional Counters. The black areas show where no X-ray photons were collected. The sunlit portion of the Moon is visible, as well as a distinct X-ray shadow in the diffuse X-ray background cast by the dark side of the Moon.
(Credit: Schmitt et al. 1991, Nature, 349, 583)
The Cygnus Loop supernova remnant, as observed by ROSAT's High Resolution Imager. This massive remnant from a supernova explosion is approximately 400 light years across, but only 2600 light years away. The dark area represents sections of the SNR not observed by ROSAT. ROSAT could only map this massive source in sections, which is evident by the circular patchwork that forms the entire image.
(Credit: Levenson et al.)
The pulsar SLX 1744-299 is the source on the right, with a tail of radio waves superimposed. The two other light sources are stars. Before ROSAT, this area seemed to be one single source. Likewise, radio telescopes only saw the area mapped with wavy lines. ROSAT resolved the area into two stars and one pulsar.
(Credit: MPE)
