Tag: Supernova
-
Webb discovers neutron star within supernova remnant
Using the joint NASA, European Space Agency, and Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international team of astronomers has found evidence of a neutron star in the remnants of a recent supernova. The supernova, called SN 1987A, was first observed on Feb. 24, 1987, and occurred 160,000 light-years from Earth in the…
-
VY Canis Majoris mass-loss history sheds light on hypergiant’s state, connection to Betelgeuse
In the southern hemisphere, in the constellation Canis Major, lies a very young, very massive red hypergiant star called VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa). A pulsating variable, its apparent magnitude (how bright it appears in the night sky) varies unpredictably. It is located 1.2 kiloparsecs, or approximately 3,900 light years, from Earth, is only 8.2…
-
Supernova leftovers preserve evidence of a messy blowup that wrecked two stars
This artist’s view shows a white dwarf star accumulating material from a nearby red giant star. Ultimately, the white dwarf erupts into a supernova. (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canaria Illustration / Romano Corradi) In what sounds like a cosmic episode of “CSI,” sleuthing astronomers have figured out what touched off a stellar explosion 545 million…
-
How number crunchers could help crack the cosmological mystery of dark energy
Berkeley astrophysicist Saul Perlmutter discusses the implications of the universe’s accelerating expansion at the University of Washington. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) Big data just might give astronomers a better grip on the answer to one of the biggest questions in physics: Exactly what’s behind the mysterious acceleration in the expansion rate of the universe,…
-
SkyMapper Sighting signs up citizen scientists to hunt for supernovae
Supernova remnant N 63A shines in a photo captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. (NASA / ESA / HEIC / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA) Calling all citizen scientists: The Australian National University wants you to join the search for supernovae. Brad Tucker from the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics says…
-
Scientists say supernovae spread fallout when human ancestors walked the earth
An artist’s impression shows a supernova explosion in its prime. (Credit: Greg Stewart / SLAC) Researchers say they’ve found evidence of supernova explosions that spewed radioactive fallout over Earth during the age when humanity’s ancestors were evolving into upright-walking, big-brained creatures. One of two studies published in the journal Nature identifies deposits of radioactive iron-60 in deep-sea cores extracted…
-
It’s a first: Hubble scientists successfully predict supernova’s ‘instant replay’
The red circles on this image from the Hubble Space Telescope indicate the three spots where flashes from Supernova Refsdal showed up at different times. The middle circle indicates the spot where it was last observed on Dec. 11. (Credit: NASA / ESA / GLASS / Frontier Fields / CLASH) Astronomers traced one of the…