For the first time, scientists may have discovered a binary system—like the twin suns of the fictional planet Tatooine in "Star Wars"—where both stars exploded as supernovas, a new study finds.

Although Earth may orbit around a single star, more than half of all stars are in systems where two or more suns orbit each other. "When it comes to massive stars, the percentage in multiple systems are even higher," study lead author Miltiadis Michailidis, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in California, told Space.com.

When massive stars burn all their fuel, they can die in giant explosions known as supernovas. These outbursts can briefly outshine all of the other suns in these stars' galaxies. They often leave behind expanding super-hot clouds of debris known as supernova remnants. Astronomers have detected about 300 such remnants in our galaxy to date.

Given how often massive stars are found in binary systems, "one can expect many pairs of massive stars where both will explode as supernovas," Michailidis noted. "However, this has never been observed, until now."

One reason supernova pairs may have escaped attention is that "if the stars are too close together when they exploded, the resulting supernova remnants may look like that from a single explosion," Michailidis explained. Another is that one star going supernova may propel its partner far enough away to hide the fact they were ever a duo, he added.

In the new study, Michailidis and his colleagues investigated a supernova remnant known as IC 443, located about 6,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Gemini. IC 443 is also known as the Jellyfish Nebula for how it resembles a jellyfish.

IC 443 is one of the most extensively studied supernova remnants in the galaxy because of how shock waves from the supernova have collided with surrounding clouds of gas and dust to create a set of concentric bubble shells, "much like how a drop of water falling on a lake creates circular waves," Michailidis said. "It is very isolated from its surroundings, without many other objects nearby to complicate its very bright emissions."

The scientists analyzed one of IC 443's much dimmer, long-hidden neighbors, dubbed G189.6+3.3. The German-led ROSAT (Roentgen Satellite) mission first discovered G189.6+3.3 in 1994 via its faint X-ray emissions, and the Russian-German Spektrum Roentgen Gamma (SRG) space observatory later clearly detected shell-like structures within G189.6+3.3, suggesting that it was a supernova remnant.

In the new study, the researchers analyzed more than 16 years of data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope along with earlier X-ray, optical and radio measurements. They discovered signs that both IC 443 and G189.6+3.3 were both smashing into the same interstellar cloud of hydrogen, revealing they were close together in space, with the centers of their explosions about 30 to 50 light-years apart.

The researchers calculated that the chances of randomly encountering two unrelated supernova remnants at this distance from one another "was about one in 1,000," Michailidis said. "This suggests that our discovery is in fact the first known binary-system supernova pair."

The scientists estimated that G189.6+3.3 was older than IC 443, with the parent star of G189.6+3.3 exploding between 20,000 to 110,000 years ago, while IC 443 was created about 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. The original stars may have been 20 or more times the sun's mass.

These new findings can help shed light on how massive binary stars evolve, interact and die. For instance, further analysis of G189.6+3.3 and IC 443 can reveal how much of a kick the former gave the latter when it died, Michailidis said.

The scientists detailed their findings July 21 in the journal Nature Communications.

Astrophotographer Ogetay Kayali has captured a nebula resembling a jellyfish — or possibly a brain, depending on your perspective — shining 5,000 light-years from Earth near the bright star Propus, which represents one foot of a mythological twin represented in the constellation Gemini.

The nebula IC 443 is, in reality, a vast supernova remnant composed of stellar debris cast off in the cataclysmic death of an enormous star. The stellar body that spawned the remnant lingers on as a fast-spinning neutron star, or pulsar, which was detected in observations made by NASA's Chandra Space Telescope back in 2015.

Kayali's nebula view highlights the expanding structure of IC 443's luminous shell, which is visible to the upper right of the image, glowing alongside dense filaments of interstellar dust and gas punctuated by the multicolored light of stars in the foreground and background of the nebula. "This image captures the intricate shock fronts where stellar debris collides with surrounding interstellar gas, causing hydrogen to glow in deep crimson while faint filaments trace the blast wave's turbulent history," Kayali told Space.com in an email.

The distinctive appearance of IC 443's shell-like structure has led to it being nicknamed the "Jellyfish Nebula," owing to its resemblance to the aquatic creature — though, through clever capture, processing and angling, Kayali opted to highlight the nebula's similarity to a human brain in his composition.

"Ironically, jellyfish do not have a brain!" Kayali said. "Rather than isolating the bright shell alone, I framed the wider environment to reveal how the remnant interacts with its surroundings, emphasizing the contrast between emission structures and darker molecular clouds."

Kayali captured the nebula scene over the course of 17 hours as it glowed in the skies above Texas using his William Optics Redcat 51 III WFID telescope paired with a ZWO ASI2600MM astronomy camera and H-alpha filter.

Want to capture spectacular images of the night sky for yourself? Then be sure to check out our guide to the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography, along with our roundup of the best telescopes for exploring the night sky!

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your deep space astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The largest astrophotography competition in the world is wrapping up its 15th year. The contest’s officiating organization, the Royal Observatory of Greenwich, has released nineteen photographs officially in the running, one of which will be announced as the overall winner during a September 14 award ceremony. 

In addition to the overall winner, the competition awards top photographers from nine different categories, and two "special prizes." The categories include Skyscapes, Aurorae, People and Space, Our Sun, Our Moon, Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae, Planets, Comets and Asteroids, and also an award for Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year. The special prize awards include the Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer, and the Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation. 

Each year, the Royal Observatory of Greenwich assembles a panel of art and astronomy experts as judges for the competition. This year, they received over 4,000 entires from 64 different countries. The nineteen photographs below are the official shortlist of final contenders.

Related: Stunning image of Comet Leonard breakup wins top astronomy photography prize of 2022

Sperrgebiet by Vikas Chander

Vikas Chanser took this photograph at an old diamond mine in the Namibian desert. “Sperrgebiet” is German for “restricted area”. In Chander’s entry, he explains the German diamond-mining settlements in Namibia during the early 1900s. “When the Germans eventually left ghost towns remained, which are still preserved in their natural state although in an advanced state of neglect and rot,” Chander says. His photo features a decayed processing plant from that era. 

Ball of Rock by Rich Addis

That’s no moon…it’s two moons! Rich Addis’s “Ball of Rock” photograph features two images of the moon blended together. One of the lunar shots is during one of the moon’s partial phases, and is only 78 percent illuminated. That image is blended with a shot of the full moon, creating a dynamic shadow effect that gives the moon a more spherical, 3D appearance. “There are many images similar to this out there, but upon closer inspection, they often have duplicated features and are not as well matched,” Addis says, adding, “the image is a 22-panel mosaic. Each panel is 400 frames stacked and manually stitched together.”

The Great Solar Flare by Mehmet Ergün

Mehmet Ergün captured this stunning view of the sun using an H-alpha solar telescope. In it, a large solar flare streaks like a scar across the star’s left side, Solar flares are common, and occur as eruptions of magnetic energy shooting from the sun’s surface. According to Ergün, the large solar flare pictured here measures over 430,000 miles (700,000 kilometers). That more than fifty times larger than Earth.

RCW58: Wolf Rayet Bubble by Mark Hanson and Mike Selby

This ultra-crisp starburst from astrophotographers Mark Hanson and Mike Selby is what’s known as a Wolf Rayet (WR) Bubble. These rare phenomena form around WR stars, which are low in hydrogen and contain a heavy element presence on their surface higher than most stars. The star photographed here, WR 40, is seen in the center of its surrounding nebula, formed by its own ejecta. "This just looks like you can hear it sizzling,” the astrophotographers said. 

C/2021 A1 (Leonard) In Sky of Israel by Alex Savenok

Alex Savenok’s photograph captures a comet in the skies above Israel’s Negev desert. The comet, C/2021 A1 (Leonard), made a close approach to Earth in 2021 and 2022, and captivated stargazers as it graced the night sky. Savenok’s shot of Comet Leonard shows it hanging above the rocky mountain terrain of the Negev, just as the sun sets. The faint glow of the stars in the background adds to the sense of awe and wonder, creating a truly breathtaking, peaceful, otherworldly scene,” Savenok said. 

NGC 3521: Marquise in the Sky by Mark Hanson and Mike Selby 

Another stunning photo from Hanson and Selby, the NGC 3521 spiral galaxy is shown shining from 35 million lightyears away. It is unique among its galaxy family for having less defined arms, typically observed with spiral galaxies. NGC 3521 can be found in the constellation Leo. In the photographers’ own words, ”surrounded by dust, the galaxy has numerous star-forming areas and a luminous centre. The dust bubbles are likely to be from encounters and mergers long ago with satellite galaxies. There are also rarely seen Hydrogen Alpha jets emanating from this galaxy.”

Green Snakes by Filip Hrebenda 

"It doesn’t matter how many times I see the aurora, it fascinates me as if I were seeing it for the first time,” says FIlip Hrebenda. Hi photograph of the green-shaded aurora borealis is aptly named. The shade paints the sky with curvy serpents of light, reflected in the streams in the foreground. Hrebenda captured this picture at Vikten beach, Loften Islands, Norway. The image is a composite featuring six stacked foreground shots and the aurora photo.

Pandora's Box by Derek Horlock

The mural in the foreground of Derek Horlock's photo is by a Balinese artist 'Wild Drawing,' and features a painting of Pandora, of ancient Greek myth. Horlock's juxtaposition of Pandora, seemingly peaking out at the Milky Way serves as a hat-tip to an upcoming satellite, also named Pandora. When it launches, Pandora's mission is to search for signs of life in other solar systems. "The moral of Pandora's Box suggests that curiosity could be dangerous, and some things are best left alone. However," Horlock says,  "[NASA] are not going to be dissuaded by the myth."

Jellyfish Nebula by Peter Larkin 

This photograph of the Jellyfish Nebula from Peter Larkin was created using a stack of images taken with different filters to capture the nebula using a variety of spectral perspectives. The technique highlights details otherwise invisible to the human eye. Larkin told the Royal Observatory of Greenwich, "I had a stretch of clear skies and started with H-alpha, then OIII (Oxygen III narrowband filter) and finally SII (sulfur II emission filter) from my garden close to Geneva, Switzerland. Once I had enough data, I went through each sub individually and removed any which weren't visually perfect."

Radio Polaris by João Yordanov Serralheiro

A deactivated radio telescope antenna sits in a field in front of a swirl of stars at Millard Radio Astronomy Observatory, in Cambridge, photographed using a remote shutter in 30-second intervals, and stacked by João Yordanov Serralheiro. This was Serralheiro’s first successful attempt at creating a star-trail image. 

Dune by Burak Esenbey

Burak Esenbey shot this photo in Egypt’s White Desert. The edge of the sandy dune stretches to the center of the image and ends just below the photo’s brightest point: Venus. The arch of the Milky Way hangs above. "Dunes are the reason I love to shoot in the desert. Leading lines and structures are what you need, as well as an excellent sky quality,” Esenbey says.

A Rocky Rise by Carl Evans

Carl Evans shot this full moon photo from Broadhaven, Pembrokeshire. The outcropping in the middle is known as Church Rock. The image consists of two photos stacked to show the moo through the clouds and the birds in flight around Church Rock. "I stood on the beach at Broadhaven for a couple of hours waiting for the Moon to rise. The clouds initially hid the Moon and as I was walking away it appeared among the clouds, adding a nice effect over it," Evans said of the photoshoot.

Solar Flare X1 from AR2994 in 'Motion' by Miguel Claro

A good photography app comes in handy, and Miguel Claro cites a notification he received from SpaceWeatherLive for alerting him to the solar flare he was able to capture. X-class solar flares are the largest, and as its name suggests, Solar Flare X1 from AR2994 was a whopper. Claro shot this image from the Dark Sky Alqueva region, Évora district, Portugal while testing out a new camera. "I had to immediately change my initial plans and pointed the telescope as quickly as possible to the limb where the flare departed from sunspot AR2994, already hidden behind the edge of the sun," Claro said. His quick framing paying off, Claro was able to shoot a 27-minute time-lapse of the event.

Celestial Equator Above First World War Trench Memorial

To capture this image, Louis Leroux-Gere slept overnight in the recessed trenches of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, in France. The memorial remember World War I service members from Canada. Leroux-Gere says, “I slept in those trenches while my camera captured the rotation of the sky and was absolutely amazed by the stars.”

Crescent Moon in a Magical Sunset by Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau

For his submission, Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau describes the sunset on the day he shot his photograph. "The sky gave us an impressive spectacle: the clouds seemed to turn into flames with a very intense red colour. This magical moment was enhanced by the presence of the crescent Moon with 16% of its surface illuminated." The image was created from the separate exposures, and stacked in photoshop to increase the photo's dynamic range.

Starless Pillars by Jason Guenzel 

The Eagle Nebula, home to the famous 'Pillars of Creation', from the Hubble Space Telescope, is nearly 7,000 lightyears away, and measures 70 light years across. This image of the giant stellar nursery was captured by Jason Gunnel, who used narrowband filters to accentuate layers of ionized gasses within the nebula. Noticeably absent from this stellar nursery image are the stars themselves. Guenzel removed the stars during photo post-processing in order to "let the eye wander unimpeded through the layers of nebulosity." He calls the finished piece "abstract art of the Cosmos."

The Milky Way by Kush Chandaria

A brilliantly vivid image of our galaxy, the Milky Way, shot by Kush Chandaria from the Okavango Delta, in Botswana. In his submission, Chandaria talks about being able to see the Milky Way with his own eyes for the first time, and the tragedy of increasing light pollution. There are many locations throughout the world untouched by light pollution, called Dark Sky zones. Unfortunately, the lights of growing cities make these areas fewer and fewer. "I can only hope that in capturing this image I can share the same feeling of amazement that I felt when I looked up at the sky that night," Chandaria said.

Cassinified Pluto by Sergio Díaz Ruiz

Sergio Diaz Ruiz took inspiration for his submission from "Carte de la Lune," a depiction of the moon from Jean-Dominique Cassini, the seventeenth century Italian astronomer for whom the Cassini probe is named after. With his image, Díaz Ruiz says he tried to answer the question, "what if Cassini could see this remote new world with his own eyes?" Díaz Ruiz used images of Pluto provided by the New Horizons probe, and rendered it in the likeness of Cassini’s Carte de la Lune, and enhanced to emulate engraving textures. Díaz Ruiz went so far as to apply the exact color pallet from Cassini's work to his image, which was provided by the Library of the Utrecht University. 

Emerald Roots by Lorenzo Ranieri Tenti 

Iceland's famous Vestrahorn Mountain rises from the wavy black sands of a Stokksnes peninsula beach, in Iceland, glowing in greens and pale yellows beneath the blazing aurora arched in the sky beyond the mountain. Lorenzo Ranieri Tenti has captured the rising moon, to the right of Vestrahorn, in his vertical panoramic photo, which he stacked to draw focus to the mountain and foreground. "I love how the 'Green Lady' lights up the frost with green while the rising moon makes ripples in the sand shine like gold," he said.

An explosion in space may have created not only a brilliant nebula but also a rapidly spinning neutron star, according to new data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Observations of the Jellyfish Nebula, the remnant of a supernova 5,000 light-years from Earth, show an unusual object located on the southern edge of the nebula. Scientists have named the object CXOU J061705.3+222127, or J0617 for short, and they believe it is a stellar powerhouse known as a pulsar.

When a massive star implodes, the outer layers of the star collapse inward, exploding into a supernova and leaving behind a dense core called a neutron star. A neutron star is called a "pulsar" when it spins and beams radiation like light from a lighthouse. [Strange Nebula Shapes: What Do You See? (Gallery)]

In the new view from Chandra, a ring surrounds the suspected pulsar, and a jetlike structure passes through it. Scientists think the ring indicates either a region in the nebula where a high-speed wind of particles flowing away from the pulsar abruptly slows down, or a shock wave, similar to a sonic boom, ahead of the pulsar wind. Similarly, the jet could be particles fired away from the pulsar in a narrow beam at high speed.

The amount of X-ray radiation around the object provides further evidence that it is, in fact, a pulsar. NASA officials said the amount of X-ray radiation at different wavelengths, as well as the way the radiation spreads out surrounding the object, matches the patterns for known pulsars.  

Some doubt exists, however, about whether the pulsar is really connected to the Jellyfish Nebula or whether it's just an unrelated neighbor. The pulsar's cometlike tail of X-ray emissions is aimed about 50 degrees away from what would be expected from a pulsar moving away from the center of a supernova remnant in a straight line. However, scientists say it could be explained by movement of material in the nebula that could change the direction of the cometary tail.

Researchers remain uncertain about the Jellyfish Nebula's true age. While this research would suggest it's around 30,000 years old, other scientists have guessed its age to be only 3,000 years.

Follow Kasandra Brabaw on Twitter @KassieBrabaw. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

Like a jellyfish floating in deep space, the supernova remnant IC 443 appears in serene beauty in this night sky photographer's amazing view.

Astrophotographer Bill Snyder captured this photo from his home observatory in Connellsville, Pa., on April 2, 2012.

Also known as the Jellyfish nebula or Sharpless 248, IC 443 is in the constellation Gemini. It is roughly 5,000 light years from Earth and resembles a jellyfish dragging its tentacles deep in the ocean. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year—about 6 trillion miles or 10 trillion kilometers.

The emission nebula is the remnant of debris from a star that exploded many years ago. The resulting debris is comprised of oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur atoms which can give the nebula its blue, green and red colors. The nearby Crab nebula was created the same way making it appear as if the two creatures were floating through cosmic waters.

Editor's note: If you have an amazing skywatching photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com.

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