When stars reach the end of their life cycle, they explode in a fiery burst. A burst of light and high-energy short- wavelength radiation is sent out in all directions when they shed their outer layers. Cosmic rays are created when protons and atomic nuclei are accelerated to close to the speed of light. On rare occasions, a ring of light that came from the original explosion can be seen.
The echoes will appear months to years after the explosion as the light from the explosion interacts with the dust around it. The emergence and evolution of multiple light echoes was documented using the Hubble Space Telescope. The echoes were traced to a stripped-envelope supernova located in the central dust lane of the constellation of Centaurus.
The researchers were from the Department of physics and astronomy at the University of Aarhus. The O'Brien Centre for Science North at University College Dublin was joined by researchers from the European Southern Observatory. A paper about their findings appeared in a journal.
This type of supernova refers to the fact that the star undergoing collapse has already blew away its outer hydrogen envelope and was surrounded by an outer helium There is still a lot of debate about the fundamental properties of this universe. Astronomers don't know if it's a giant elliptical galaxy or a lenticular one and estimate its distance from Earth to be 10 to 16 billion light-years away.
Astronomers have been watching the area around the supernova since it was discovered. The video shows the evolution of the light echoes and the fading of the supernova. The progression in the video is shown over a one thousand, nine hundred, and eleven day period. The light from the explosion fades, followed by an illuminated ring that expands slowly.
The data set gave us the ability to create impressive colored images and animations that show the evolution of the light echoes over the course of five years. Only a few other supernovae have been documented with it. In a recent research news release, Prof. Stritzinger said that.
When the sideways spreading light from the supernova hit the dusty areas, they lit up further and further away from the original supernova position, creating a series of light echoes. Researchers can examine the layout of the dust lanes near the explosion by looking at the variations in these rings. The data shows that they are made of columns of dust with large holes in between.
Astronomers think that the blast wave created by the explosion moved at a rate of over 10,000 km per second. The intense flash of light released from the supernova, which is absorbed by the clouds of dust and gas thrown off by the explosion, causes the expanding rings of light captured in these images. The Universe was formed with heavy elements like carbon, oxygen, and iron.
The formation of the first planet was due to the abundance of these elements. Stephen Lawrence is a co-author of the book.
Imagine the finale of a fireworks show, with a bright burst of light from a shell at the end, that will light up the smoke from earlier shells that is still lingered in the area.
Light echoes from four different dust sheets have been observed so far. The team hopes to use Hubble to observe more light rings. The light echoes will reveal the composition and makeup of the supernova. The Hubble can still make major discoveries over the course of 30 years. Morgan Fraser is a co-author.
Hubble continues to provide amazing images of the Universe, despite the attention given to the James Webb Space Telescope. HST has been observing the sky for over three decades, so we can see things that evolve slowly over time.
The Astrophysical Journal Letters is a further reading.
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