Tag Archive for 'Supernova'

This pair of visible-light and near-infrared Hubble photos shows N6946-BH1 before and after it vanished out of sight by imploding to form a black hole. The left image shows the star as it looked in 2007. In 2009, the star shot up in brightness to become over 1 million times more luminous than our Sun for several months. But then it seemed to vanish, as seen in the right panel image from 2015. A small amount of IR light has been detected from where the star used to be. This radiation probably comes from debris falling onto a black hole. Image credit: NASA / ESA / C. Kochanek, Ohio State University.

Red Supergiant Fails to Explode as Supernova, Collapses into Black Hole

May 26, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers have watched as N6946-BH1, a red supergiant with a mass of 25 solar masses in the spiral galaxy NGC 6946, was likely reborn as a black hole. This...

Hubble’s view on iPTF16geu. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Spots Multiply-Imaged, Gravitationally Lensed Type Ia Supernova

Apr 21, 2017 by News Staff

The powerful vision of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has allowed astronomers to analyze for the first time the multiple images of a gravitationally...

This Hubble image shows the supernova remnant N103B (top of the image). N103B was a Type Ia supernova, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Owing to its relative proximity to Earth, astronomers observe the remnant to search for a potential stellar survivor of the explosion. The orange-red filaments visible in the image show the shock fronts of the supernova explosion. These filaments allow astronomers to calculate the original centre of the explosion. The filaments also show that the explosion is no longer expanding as a sphere, but is elliptical in shape. Astronomers assume that part of material ejected by the explosion hit a denser cloud of interstellar material, which slowed its speed. The shell of expanding material being open to one side supports this idea. The gas in the lower half of the image and the dense concentration of stars in the lower left are the outskirts of the rich star cluster NGC 1850. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Astronomers Observe Type Ia Supernova Remnant in Large Magellanic Cloud

Mar 30, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to observe N103B, a supernova remnant in our neighboring galaxy the Large...

This Hubble image shows the remnant of SN 1987A within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The image was taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in January 2017. SN 1987A is located in the center of the image amidst a backdrop of stars. The bright ring around the central region of the exploded star is composed of material ejected by the star about 20,000 years before the actual explosion took place. The supernova is surrounded by gaseous clouds. The clouds’ red color represents the glow of hydrogen gas. The colors of the foreground and background stars were added from observations taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). Image credit: NASA / ESA / R. Kirshner, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation / P. Challis, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Hubble Snaps 30th Anniversary Image of SN 1987A Remnant

Feb 25, 2017 by News Staff

This new image of the remnant of core-collapse Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A) was taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in January 2017. This Hubble...

Planets form around a young star in this artist’s concept. Image credit: David A. Hardy, www.astroart.org / NASA.

Solar System’s Birth was Triggered by Nearby Low-Mass Supernova, Researchers Say

Nov 29, 2016 by News Staff

A low-mass core-collapse supernova catalyzed the birth of our Solar System, according to a team of scientists led by University of Minnesota researcher. Planets...

This Hubble image shows the central region of the Crab Nebula. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com / M. Weisskopf, Marshall Space Flight Center.

Spectacular New Hubble Image Reveals Crab Nebula’s Pulsing Heart

Oct 31, 2016 by News Staff

A stunning new image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals the ‘pulsing heart’ of one of the most beautiful and well-studied objects...

Hubble view of the galaxy cluster Abell 1689. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / J. Blakeslee, Dominion Astrophysical Observatory / H. Ford, JHU.

Study: Universe is Expanding with Constant Velocity

Oct 25, 2016 by News Staff

Hubble view of the galaxy cluster Abell 1689. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / J. Blakeslee, Dominion Astrophysical Observatory...

Earth-Moon system. Image credit: Comfreak.

Moon Mission Could Reveal the Story of Earth’s Journey around the Milky Way

Sep 1, 2016 by James Romero

A researcher’s proposal for an ESA mission to return to the Moon could lay the groundwork for a full-surface geological survey from a permanent lunar...

This image from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys is likely the best of the spiral galaxy LEDA 56779. The brilliant object at right is a star in our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / N. Grogin, STScI.

Hubble Spots Lonely Star-Forming Spiral

Jul 11, 2016 by News Staff

The subject of this Hubble image is LEDA 56779, a spiral galaxy located 300 million light-years away in the constellation of Hercules. This image from...

This is a mosaic image, one of the largest ever taken by Hubble of the Crab Nebula, a 6-light-year-wide expanding remnant of a star’s supernova explosion. Japanese and Chinese astronomers recorded this violent event nearly 1,000 years ago in 1054, as did, almost certainly, Native Americans. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Hester / A. Loll, Arizona State University.

Interstellar Iron Found on Moon’s Surface: Confirmation of Supernovae in Solar Neighborhood

Apr 19, 2016 by Natali Anderson

An international team of researchers, led by Dr. Gunther Korschinek from the Technical University of Munich, has detected radioactive iron-60 in samples...

This false color image shows Cassiopeia A, a remnant of a Type IIb supernova. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Nearby Supernovae Showered Earth with Radioactive Debris 2 to 8 Million Years Ago

Apr 8, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Two international research teams have found evidence of a series of ‘near-Earth’ supernova explosions, which showered our planet with radioactive debris....

Astronomers Catch Two Supernovae in Act of Exploding

Mar 22, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international group of astronomers, led by Prof. Peter Garnavich from the University of Notre Dame, has caught two Type II supernovae at the moment...

ASASSN-15lh: Astronomers Discover Most Luminous Supernova Ever Seen

Jan 15, 2016 by News Staff

A large international team of astronomers has spotted an extremely luminous supernova in a massive galaxy 3.82 billion light-years away. An artist’s...

This image shows the spiral galaxy Messier 63, widely known as the Sunflower Galaxy. The image was taken with Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Messier 63: ‘Sunflower’ Blooms in New Hubble Image

Sep 7, 2015 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced this beautiful image of the famous galaxy Messier 63, also known as the Sunflower Galaxy. This image shows...

These Hubble images show elliptical galaxies with dark, wispy dust lanes, the signature of a recent galaxy merger. The dust is the only relic of a smaller galaxy that was consumed by the larger elliptical galaxy. The X in the images marks the location of supernova explosions that are associated with the galaxies. Each supernova may have been gravitationally kicked out of its host galaxy by a pair of central supermassive black holes. When two galaxies merge, so do their supermassive black holes. Prof Foley suggests the supernovae were stars that were once part of double-star systems. These systems wandered too close to the binary black holes, which ejected them from their galaxies. Eventually, the stars in each system moved close enough together to trigger a supernova blast. These outcast supernovae are located at various distances from their home galaxies. SN 2000ds (left) is at least 12,000 light-years from its galaxy, NGC 2768; SN 2005cz (right) is at least 7,000 light-years from its galaxy, NGC 4589. NGC 2768 resides 75 million light-years from Earth, and NGC 4589 is 108 million light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / R. Foley, University of Illinois.

Astronomer Throws Light on Origins of Outcast Supernovae

Aug 16, 2015 by News Staff

Outcast supernovae that explode all alone in space present a scientific mystery. Prof Ryan Foley from the University of Illinois has developed a theory...

This artist’s impression shows a supernova and associated gamma-ray burst driven by a rapidly spinning magnetar. Image credit: ESO.

Ultra-Long Gamma-Ray Bursts are Driven by Magnetars, Astronomers Say

Jul 9, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers led by Dr Jochen Greiner of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany, has demonstrated a link between the bright...

A set of four rings around Circinus X-1 can be seen in this composite image where X-rays from Chandra are red, green, and blue corresponding to low, medium, and high-energy X-rays respectively, which have been combined with a view in visible light from the Digitized Sky Survey. The sharp edges are caused by the large size of the X-ray rings compared to the relatively small field-of-view of the Chandra detectors, providing only partial coverage. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Wisconsin-Madison / S. Heinz et al / DSS.

Circinus X-1: Astronomers Discover X-ray Rings around Neutron Star

Jun 24, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton telescope have discovered a bright X-ray light echo in the form of...

This is an artist’s concept of a Type Ia supernova exploding in the intergalactic space between galaxies within a galactic cluster. Image credit: Alex Parker / NASA / SDSS.

Hubble Confirms Two Solitary Supernovae

Jun 5, 2015 by News Staff

New observations with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope confirm that two Type Ia supernovae discovered six years ago...

This image of Messier 84 does not show the whole galaxy but only its very interesting center, and is likely to be the best image of the region ever captured. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA.

Hubble Space Telescope Sees Mysterious Galaxy Messier 84

Jun 1, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have photographed an unusual galaxy called Messier 84. This image of Messier 84 does not show the...

An image from a simulation in which a Type Ia supernova explodes, as shown in brown. The supernova material is ejected outward at a velocity of about 10,000 km per second and slams into its companion star, as shown in light blue. The collision produces an UV pulse, which is emitted from the conical hole carved out by the companion star. Image credit: Dan Kasen, University of California Berkeley.

Astronomers Observe Supernova Smash into Companion Star

May 21, 2015 by News Staff

A group of astronomers from the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) has witnessed a supernova smashing into a nearby white dwarf, shocking it,...

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