Thanks nickcarraway.
Posted on 04/02/2024 9:33:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Days before one of the researchers’ wedding, a star explodes in a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
A team of Israeli scientists managed to capture and study a once-in-a-lifetime supernova using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, helping mankind better understand this magnificent event.
Supernovas, or exploding stars, are phenomenons that occur in our galaxy about once every century, with the last observable explosion taking place hundreds of years ago. Supernovas can’t be predicted, and instead astrophysicists study their aftermath in a way reminiscent of space archaeology.
But the researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science learned about the supernova as it was taking place on a Friday evening. They quickly contacted NASA and requested that the Hubble Space Telescope reposition itself to capture the exploding star – no mean feat, since the telescope is far from an agile machine.
Their determination and hard work – all of which took place two days before researcher Erez Zimmerman’s wedding, to further complicate things – paid off, and they managed to witness in real time one of the closest supernovas in decades: a red supergiant exploding in a neighbouring galaxy called Messier 101. Their findings are now published in Nature.
“That’s what makes this particular supernova different,” said Zimmerman, from Prof. Avishay Gal-Yam’s group in Weizmann’s Particle Physics and Astrophysics Department. “We were able – for the very first time – to closely follow a supernova while its light was emerging from the circumstellar material in which the exploding star was embedded.”
The researchers then found out that Hubble had already made recordings in this sector of the universe. Going through NASA’s archives, the researchers were able to acquire data from before the star’s eventual demise, creating the most complete portrait of a supernova to date.
In their study, the researchers mapped the two outer layers of the exploding star, leading them to hypothesise that a black hole was formed following the supernova event.
“Calculations of the circumstellar material emitted in the explosion, as well as this material’s density and mass before and after the supernova, reveal a discrepancy, which makes it very likely that the missing mass ended up in a black hole that was formed in the aftermath of the explosion – something that’s usually very hard to determine,” explained PhD student Ido Irani.
“This study presents a unique opportunity to better understand the mechanisms that lead to the conclusion of a star’s life and the eventual formation of something entirely new,” concluded Zimmerman.
Too bad their telescopes weren’t pointed in the direction of Tehran at the time of their discovery.
Catching a SuperNova is one thing.
Freeing it from the bag after it’s angry is another.
Just got to love the headlines.
Netanyahu blamed for blowing up innocent star. Biden demands Israel stop capturing supernovas.
I wonder how many thousands of years ago that happened.
Not quite true. There was a galaxy that had a supernova with a twist. In-between that galaxy and Earth was something massive enough to bend the light. It turns out it bent the light in such a way that 4 identical images of the far away galaxy occurred. The length of the light path between those 4 different images was different for all 4. Astronomers were able to calculate the length of each light path individually. Since the original light path of one of those images was shorter than the rest they saw the supernova there first. They predicted when each of the other images would light up, hence predicting a Supernova before it happened in the other images.
Messier 101 (the Pinwheel Galaxy) is 21 million light-years away. So there is your answer.
So where is the video of the super-nova?
I know they take ages, but where is the start?
How did they know of it in advance? Not explained....
I’d say the term ‘captured’ is applicable. Whatever visual & digital data they received is surely now stored on disk.
“Captured on film” is pretty much as old as photography.
Just a note, the supernova exploded a long time ago, and we are just noticing it.
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