Tag Archive for 'Supernova'

An artist’s rendition of SN 2020eyj, a white dwarf star that went supernova after pulling material from a helium companion star. Image credit: Adam Makarenko / W.M. Keck Observatory.

Astronomers Detect Radio Waves from Type Ia Supernova

May 18, 2023 by News Staff

The detection of the Type Ia supernova SN 2020eyj at radio wavelengths show that the exploded white dwarf had a helium-rich companion. An artist’s rendition...

The enlarged inset view reveals four images of SN Refsdal, spotted in 2014, arranged around a giant elliptical galaxy within the cluster. The light from the supernova passes so closely to the galaxy’s dense core that several light paths are redirected and focused toward Earth. The result is that astronomers see four images that form an Einstein Cross. The blue streaks wrapping around the galaxy are the stretched images of SN Refsdal’s parent spiral galaxy, which has been distorted by the warping of space. Computer models of the cluster predict that another image of the stellar blast will appear within 5 years. The red circle marks the possible location of the next supernova image. Astronomers may have missed an earlier appearance of the supernova in 1995, as marked by the blue circle. These multiple appearances of the exploding star are due to the various paths its light is taking through the maze of clumpy dark matter in the galactic grouping. Each image takes a different route through the cluster and arrives at a different time, due, in part, to differences in the length of the pathways the light follows to reach Earth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / S. Rodney, JHU / FrontierSN team / T. Treu, UCLA / P. Kelly, UC Berkeley / GLASS team / J. Lotz, STScI / Frontier Fields team / M. Postman, STScI / CLASH team / Z. Levay, STScI.

Light from Supernova Refsdal Helps Astronomers Measure Universe’s Expansion Rate

May 17, 2023 by News Staff

The gravitationally lensed Supernova (SN) Refsdal was discovered by University of Minnesota astronomer Patrick Kelly in 2014 in the field of MACS J1149.6+2223,...

This artist’s impression shows a distant gas cloud that contains different chemical elements, illustrated here with schematic representations of various atoms. Image credit: L. Calçada / M. Kornmesser / ESO.

VLT Detects Chemical Signatures of Universe’s First Stars in Distant Gas Clouds

May 4, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have detected three distant gas clouds whose chemical composition matches what they expect from the...

Illustration of an Earth-like exoplanet after X-ray radiation exposure. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M. Weiss.

X-Ray-Luminous Supernovae Pose Threat to Earth-Like Planetary Atmospheres, Study Says

Apr 20, 2023 by News Staff

The aftermaths of supernovae always produce X-rays, but if the supernova’s blast wave strikes dense surrounding gas, it can produce a particularly large...

This image of the Crab Nebula combines data from IXPE in magenta and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in dark purple. Image credit: IXPE / NASA / Chandra / CXC / SAO / K. Arcand / L. Frattare.

IXPE Observes Crab Nebula and Its Pulsar

Apr 11, 2023 by News Staff

Located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus, the Crab Nebula and its pulsar formed in a supernova whose light reached Earth in July 1054. This...

This new image from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) shows Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / D.D. Milisavljevic, Purdue University / T. Temim, Princeton University / I. De Looze, Ghent University / J. DePasquale, STScI.

Webb Shows Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A in New Light

Apr 10, 2023 by News Staff

A new mid-infrared image from the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia...

This Hubble image shows UGC 2890, a small spiral galaxy some 30 million light-years away in the constellation of Camelopardalis. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick.

Hubble Snaps Breathtaking New Image of UGC 2890

Apr 3, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced a beautiful image of the side-on spiral galaxy UGC 2890. This Hubble image shows UGC 2890, a small spiral...

ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory recorded 20 dust rings, 19 of which are shown here in arbitrary colors. The image merges observations made two and five days after GRB 221009A erupted. Dark stripes indicate gaps between the detectors. A detailed analysis shows that the widest ring visible here, comparable to the apparent size of a full Moon, came from dust clouds located about 1,300 light-years away. The innermost ring arose from dust at a distance of 61,000 light-years -- on the other side of our Galaxy. Image credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / M. Rigoselli, INAF.

Astronomers Capture Reverse Shock Emission from Record-Breaking Gamma-Ray Burst

Mar 28, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers have provided vital information in the global effort to understand GRB 221009A, one of the nearest and possibly the most-energetic gamma-ray...

Hartwig et al. shed a new light on solving the mystery of the first stars from the complex data set of Galactic archaeology surveys. Image credit: Kavli IPMU.

Universe’s First Stars were Born in Small Clusters, Study Suggests

Mar 23, 2023 by News Staff

In unveiling the nature of the first stars, the main astronomical clue is the elemental compositions of the second generation of stars, observed as extremely...

This Webb image shows the massive galaxy cluster RX J2129.6+0005; due to gravitational lensing, this observation contains three different images of a distant galaxy that hosted the Type Ia supernova event AT 2022riv. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / P. Kelly.

Webb Sees Three Images of Same Supernova-Hosting Galaxy

Mar 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Light from the distant supernova-hosting galaxy was gravitationally lensed by the foreground galaxy cluster RX J2129.6+0005 (RX J2129 for short). This...

This image shows Tycho’s SNR, which is located between 8,000 and 10,000 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia. IXPE data (dark purple and white) have been combined with data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (red and blue) and overlaid with the stars in the field of view as captured by the Digitized Sky Survey. Image credit: IXPE / NASA / ASI / MSFC / INAF / Ferrazzoli et al. / Chandra / CXC / RIKEN / GSFC / Sato et al. / DSS / SAO / K. Arcand, L. Frattare & N. Wolk.

IXPE Detects Polarized X-Rays from Tycho’s Supernova Remnant

Mar 2, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) — a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency — have observed...

A part of the Galactic plane as seen by the ASKAP radio telescope and the Parkes radio telescope, Murriyang, showing supernova remnants and the space between the stars. Image credit: R. Kothes, NRC / PEGASUS Team.

Radio Astronomers Discover New Supernova Remnants in Milky Way Galaxy

Jan 17, 2023 by News Staff

Using the ASKAP and Parkes radio telescopes in Australia, astronomers have observed a large section of the Galactic plane of the Milky Way. A part of the...

This Hubble image shows NGC 6956, a barred spiral galaxy some 215 million light-years away in the constellation of Delphinus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Jones, University of California, Santa Cruz / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Cepheid Variables in NGC 6956

Dec 17, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have imaged the barred spiral galaxy NGC 6956, which is found in the constellation of Delphinus. This...

When neutron stars merge, they can produce radioactive ejecta that powers a kilonova signal, as this conceptual image shows. Image credit: Dreamstime.

Hybrid Neutron-Star Merger Detected for the First Time

Dec 7, 2022 by News Staff

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) come in two varieties, long and short. Long GRBs, which last a couple of seconds to one minute, form when a star at least 10 times...

This Hubble image shows DEM L 190, a young supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / S. Kulkarni / Y. Chu.

Hubble Spots Colorful Supernova Remnant in Large Magellanic Cloud

Nov 28, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The new Hubble image shows sheets and filaments of debris from a massive star that exploded as a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby, small...

A multiply imaged supernova in the archival Hubble imaging of the Abell 370 galaxy-cluster field. Image credit: Chen et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05252-5.

Hubble Observes Early Phases of Supernova in Early Universe

Nov 9, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The newly-discovered core-collapse supernova, or Type II supernova, seen at a lookback time of approximately 11.5 billion years, is strongly lensed by...

This image, taken by the OmegaCAM camera at ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope, shows a spectacular view of the orange and pink clouds that make up the Vela SNR. OmegaCAM can take images through several filters that let through light of different colors. In this particular image of the Vela SNR, four different filters were used, represented here by a combination of magenta, blue, green and red. Image credit: ESO / VPHAS+ Team / Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit.

OmegaCAM Snaps Beautiful Image of Vela Supernova Remnant

Nov 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the 268-million-pixel OmegaCAM instrument on ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope have captured a detailed image of the Vela supernova remnant,...

This composite image shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, a structure resulting from the explosion of a star in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The blues represent data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the turquoise is from IXPE, and the gold is courtesy of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / NASA / MSFC / Vink et al. / STScI.

IXPE Maps Polarized X-Rays from Cassiopeia A

Oct 18, 2022 by News Staff

Cassiopeia A is a remnant that blew up as a supernova approximately 11,000 years ago. This composite image shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, a...

Astronomers think GRB 221009A represents the birth of a new black hole formed within the heart of a collapsing star. In this illustration, the black hole drives powerful jets of particles traveling near the speed of light. The jets pierce through the star, emitting X-rays and gamma rays as they stream into space. Image credit: NASA / Swift / Cruz deWilde.

Astronomers Detect Record-Breaking Gamma-Ray Burst

Oct 16, 2022 by News Staff

GRB 221009A, a gamma-ray burst detected on October 9, 2022, is one of the nearest and possibly the most-energetic gamma-ray burst ever observed. It occurred...

Second Ever Interstellar Meteor Discovered

Oct 10, 2022 by Sergio Prostak

Both the first and second interstellar meteors, IM1 and IM2, are outliers in material strength and may have originated in supernova explosions, according...

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