The fireworks of an exploding star are a very special event and unlike any other astronomical phenomenon ever observed.
Remnants of a supernova explosion look like fireworks in space
The remains of a supernova explosion look like fireworks in space, a phenomenon never before observed. (Photo: Robert Fesen).
When the A dying star explodes, also known as a supernova, they often release patches of dust and gas. But a new image, capturing what’s left after a supernova explosion, is completely different. like fireworks in space.
Firework-Shaped Supernova Explosion Remnants Never Seen Beforeand may come from a rare type of supernova.
“I’ve been studying supernova remnants for 30 years and I’ve never seen anything like this”said Robert Fesen, an astronomer at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, who photographed the remains of the “fireworks display” late last year.
Fesen’s discovery comes from infrared images taken by the US Space Agency (NASA) of a The mysterious object is called Pa 30. For the past 10 years, no one knows for sure what Pa 30 is. It is assumed to be the remnant of a supernova explosion observed in 1181, because its emission spectrum contains a related line to the element sulfur, a heavy element often emitted during explosions.
To verify, the Fesen team photographed the object with an optical filter sensitive to this spectral line, using the 2.4m Hiltner telescope at the Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT Observatory in Kitt Peak, Arizona, America. The data collected helped scientists confirm that Pa 30 was indeed a supernova remnant, but what attracted more attention were the strange images of fireworks obtained by astronomers.
This supernova remnant is made up of hundreds of thin filaments radiating from a bright center, almost resembling fireworks. Typically, supernova remnants resemble the Crab Nebula, a region of bright dust and streaks within an oval mass of tentacle-like filaments, or resemble Supernova Tycho, a bridge with disorderly knots at the interior.
The Crab Nebula has the usual appearance of a supernova explosion
The Crab Nebula has the usual shape of a supernova explosion, instead of the shape of a fireworks display like the recently discovered remnant. (Photo: NASA).
“The shape of the remains of Pa 30 is incredible, I have never seen anything like it before”said Saurabh Jha, an astronomer at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Experts speculate that this strange type of pyrotechnic remnant, consisting of a center and surrounding rays of light, comes from a rarely observed type of supernova explosion, called 1ax. Supernovas are common, type 1aoccurs when a white dwarf star sucks up material from a companion star, eventually growing so large that it explodes and scatters the material throughout the galaxy.
It’s still unclear how, but with a 1ax supernova, the white dwarf survives the explosion, unlike a type 1a supernova, where the white dwarf is completely destroyed, explained astronomer Ryan Foley of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. .
Foley said the reason Type 1ax supernovae are less often detected than Type 1a supernovae is because they are fainter. “For over a thousand years, humans have observed conventional supernovae, but there are other types of supernovae lurking in the shadows,” » said Foley.
Article source: Zing
If there is an error with the close-up of the strange “fireworks” in the supernova explosion article, or if the content is incorrect, please contact us so we can correct it.
Keyword:
The fireworks of an exploding star are a very special event and unlike any other astronomical phenomenon ever observed.
