A dead star whose explosion was recorded four centuries ago by famed
astronomer Johannes Kepler continues to yield stunning details into one of the
youngest supernovas in our Milky Way galaxy
A dead star whose explosion was recorded
four centuries ago by famed astronomer Johannes
Kepler continues to yield stunning details into one of the youngest
supernovas in our Milky Way galaxy.
Known colloquially
as Kepler’s supernova remnant,
the objects sits some 13,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus
(the Serpent Bearer).
The
brightly-colored remains of this supernova in this image are the result of
several days of observation with the Chandra X-ray Observatory, while the
background stars stem from a visible light view of the same region that was
later added in. Without the X-ray data, this image would appear as a plain star
field of optical light.
Astronomers
used Chandra to pin down exactly what type of star erupted into this supernova
remnant, since some previous studies found material suggesting a Type 1a supernova,
while others pointed towards a Type 2 variety.
Type 1a
supernovas result from greedy white
dwarf stars that swell to an explosive critical mass by stripping material
from a nearby stellar companion. A Type 2 supernova is the final stage of a
massive star that collapses in on itself, and sheds material before exploding.
Astronomer
Stephen Reynolds of the North Carolina State University led a team of
researchers who used the Chandra observatory to determine that the Kepler stellar
relic likely stemmed from a Type 1a supernova.
-- SPACE.com Staff
Optical: DSS
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