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Giant Telescope Array Glimpses Supernova Remnant
By Kenneth Silber
Staff Writer
posted: 09:06 am ET
09 December 1999
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radio_image_991209A worldwide array of radio telescopes has produced an elaborate image of the remains of an exploding star in the nearby galaxy Messier 82 (M 82). The image is the "most detailed picture of a supernova remnant in another galaxy that's ever been made," says Phil Diamond, an astronomer involved in the project. The image (shown below) was compiled by the coordinated observations of 20 radio telescopes around the world -- operating in effect as a single telescope the size of the Earth. "This was the largest radio astronomy experiment ever done," says Diamond. 
The coordinated observations were conducted in November 1998. The results will be presented at a meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society on December 10. The image shows a shell-like cloud of gas expanding outward. Radio images from 1986 and 1997 (see insets in picture below) show the same supernova remnant at earlier stages of expansion. 
Galaxy M 82 contains about 50 supernova remnants discernible to radio telescopes. The galaxy is partly obscured by dust, preventing optical telescopes from conducting a detailed survey. Alan Pedlar and Tom Muxlow of the Jodrell Bank Observatory (University of Manchester) and Karen Wills of Sheffield University led the astronomers conducting the November 1998 observations. The project included telescopes throughout Europe and the United States.
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