Space image: New supernova remnant lights up
Credit: NASA, ESA, and P. Challis (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers are witnessing the unprecedented transition of a supernova to a supernova remnant, where light from an exploding star in a neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, reached Earth in February 1987.
Named Supernova 1987A, it was the closest supernova explosion witnessed in almost 400 years. The supernova's close proximity to Earth allows astronomers to study it in detail as it evolves.
Now, the supernova debris, which has faded over the years, is brightening.
This means that a different power source has begun to light the debris. The debris of SN 1987A is beginning to impact the surrounding ring, creating powerful shock waves that generate X-rays observed with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Those X-rays are illuminating the supernova debris and shock heating is making it glow in visible light. Since its launch in 1990, the Hubble telescope has provided a continuous record of the changes in SN 1987A.
More information: New supernova remnant lights up
Provided by
JPL/NASA
-
From lemons to lemonade: Reaction uses carbon dioxide to make carbon-based semiconductor,
32 comments
-
Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments,
3 comments
-
SpaceX private rocket blasts off for space station (Update),
42 comments
-
Climate scientists say they have solved riddle of rising sea,
31 comments
-
SpaceX capsule has 'new car' smell, astronauts say (Update),
4 comments
-
Distance of planets from stars and revolution
5 hours ago
-
revamping general concept and cosmological principle
May 25, 2012
-
Transiting Exoplanet Light Curve
May 25, 2012
-
Math behind Theoretical Physics
May 24, 2012
-
Do we know whats at the center of galaxies yet?
May 23, 2012
-
Structure of the Milky Way?
May 20, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - General Astronomy
More news stories
Land and sea species differ in climate change response: study
(Phys.org) -- Marine and terrestrial species will likely differ in their responses to climate warming, new research by Simon Fraser University and Australia’s University of Tasmania has found.
2 hours ago |
5 / 5 (2) |
2
|
Yale study concludes public apathy over climate change unrelated to science literacy
Are members of the public divided about climate change because they don't understand the science behind it? If Americans knew more basic science and were more proficient in technical reasoning, would public consensus match ...
4 hours ago |
4 / 5 (1) |
11
|
10 million years needed to recover from mass extinction
It took some 10 million years for Earth to recover from the greatest mass extinction of all time, latest research has revealed.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
4 hours ago |
not rated yet |
1
|
Sophisticated simulations predict future warming
The chances of our planet being hit by a global warming of 3 degrees Celsius by 2050 is as likely as it being hit by an increase of 1.4 degrees, new research shows. Presented in the journal Nature Geoscience, the British study ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 22, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (9) |
51
Aliens don't want to eat us, says former SETI director
Alien life probably isn’t interested in having us for dinner, enslaving us or laying eggs in our bellies, according to a recent statement by former SETI director Jill Tarter.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
May 25, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (14) |
40
Nvidia trumpets Tegra 3 phone design wins for 2012
(Phys.org) -- Nvidia’s competitive war paint has a name, Tegra 3. On the heels of Nvidia announcements about lowering costs of its Tegra 3 processors and Nvidia-enabled tablets running Android Ice Cream ...
'Unzipped' carbon nanotubes could help energize fuel cells, batteries
Multi-walled carbon nanotubes riddled with defects and impurities on the outside could replace some of the expensive platinum catalysts used in fuel cells and metal-air batteries, according to scientists at ...
T cells 'hunt' parasites like animal predators seek prey, study shows
By pairing an intimate knowledge of immune-system function with a deep understanding of statistical physics, a cross-disciplinary team at the University of Pennsylvania has arrived at a surprising finding: T cells use a movement ...
Computer model used to pinpoint prime materials for efficient carbon capture
When power plants begin capturing their carbon emissions to reduce greenhouse gases – and to most in the electric power industry, it's a question of when, not if – it will be an expensive undertaking.
Change in developmental timing was crucial in the evolutionary shift from dinosaurs to birds: study
At first glance, it's hard to see how a common house sparrow and a Tyrannosaurus Rex might have anything in common. After all, one is a bird that weighs less than an ounce, and the other is a dinosaur that ...
Scientist: Evolution debate will soon be history
(AP) -- Richard Leakey predicts skepticism over evolution will soon be history. Not that the avowed atheist has any doubts himself.
Sep 13, 2011
Rank: 2 / 5 (4)
http://is.gd/0zIxy9
ANIMAAAAAL!
Sep 13, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (10)
That looks remarkably like the event that occurred here five billion years (5 Gyr) ago to form the Solar System [1-5]!
1. "Elemental and isotopic inhomogeneities in noble gases:
The case for local synthesis of the chemical elements",
Transactions Missouri Academy Sciences 9, 104-122 (1975)
2. "Strange xenon, extinct super-heavy elements, and
the solar neutrino puzzle", Science 195, 208-209 (1977)
www.omatumr.com/a...enon.pdf
3. "Isotopes of tellurium, xenon and krypton in the
Allende meteorite retain record of nucleosynthesis",
Nature 277, 615-620 (1979)
www.nature.com/na...5a0.html
4. Noble gas anomalies and synthesis of the chemical
elements", Meteoritics 15, 117-138 (1980)
www.omatumr.com/a...lies.pdf
4. "Solar abundances of the elements", Meteoritics 18, 209-222 (1983)
www.omatumr.com/a...nces.pdf
With kind regards,
Oliver K. Manuel
Former NASA PI for Apollo
Sep 13, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (5)
How do you know it looks like an event that occured here 5 Billion years ago? Where you around to witness it?
And more to the point, how does one witness fictional events...?
Sep 14, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (8)
Thanks for your comment. You are right. I should have said:
That looks remarkably like the event that was concluded, from experimental data, to have occurred here five billion years (5 Gyr) ago to form the Solar System [1-5]!
The experimental data are given in the manuscripts.
Thanks again for your comment.
Sep 14, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
Sep 14, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (7)
Sep 14, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
So... you're saying stars aren't real? Or that... the universe isn't real? Just because it's turtles all the way down doesn't mean there are no such things as stars.
Sep 14, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
Which is it? Only the most intense study by top scientific minds might make the final determination. Stay "tooned" for future developments!
LOL!
P.S. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Sep 14, 2011
Rank: not rated yet
Sep 14, 2011
Rank: not rated yet
You just made my day :) thx
Sep 14, 2011
Rank: not rated yet
I actually read that in Professor Farnsworth's voice and lol'd
Sep 14, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (5)
1. Stellar surface:
www.omatumr.com/P...face.htm
2. Surface composition:
www.omatumr.com/i...Fig1.htm
3. Mass fractionation (MF) observed at surface
www.omatumr.com/i...Fig2.htm
4. Mantle composition - Inferred from MF isotopes
www.omatumr.com/i...Fig3.htm
5. Mantle composition - Inferred from MF s-products
www.omatumr.com/i...Fig4.htm
6. Core - Inferred from measurements on solar luminosity, solar neutrinos, and solar wind emissions
www.omatumr.com/P...core.htm
For more information, see "Neutron Repulsion", The APEIRON Journal, in press (2011);
http://arxiv.org/...2.1499v1
With kind regards,
Oliver K. Manuel
Former NASA Principal
Investigator for Apollo