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The article examines how, over the past several decades, the glowing remains of an explosion of hot gas and dust called Cassiopeia A has become one of the most studied supernova remnants in the heavens. Trained on Cassiopeia A for viewing sessions totaling 11.5 days, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has now taken the most detailed portrait ever recorded of any supernova remnant. The image provides new evidence linking supernova explosions to gamma-ray bursts, the most energetic flashes of radiation in the cosmos, says Chandra researcher J. Martin Laming of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. The new image shows two oppositely directed jets, each about 10 light-years long, shooting out from the remnant's center. Previous images had shown only one jet. Laming's team conjectures that the jets are low-energy versions of those created by hypernovas-relatively rare and extremely powerful supernovas.