Two supernovas appear side-by-side in a cosmic rarity caught by the space-based Swift observatory.

The supernova pair sits in a galaxy known as NCG 1316 and apparently occurred within five months of one another. Most galaxy are home to maybe three supernovas per century but NGC 1316 has hosted some four stellar explosions in the 26 years astronomers have recorded its history, making it the most prolific supernova produce known to date.

At the right of this image is the supernova SN 2006dd, which exploded on June 19 of this year and remains visible. Immediately to the left is the supernova SN 2006mr. It erupted on Nov. 5.

The bright spot at the center is NGC 1316’s core. The object at the far left is a star in the foreground.

NGC 1316 is a massive elliptical galaxy that sits some 80 million light-years from Earth and has recently merged with a spiral galaxy. Such mergers can spur supernova activity by forcing the creation of new, massive stars that die quickly and explode. But the four events detected in NGC 1316 do not appear to be of this type, Swift researchers said.

The Swift observatory launched on Nov. 20, 2004 on a mission to track gamma ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe.  

-- SPACE.com Staff

Credit:  NASA/Swift/Stefan Immler.