supernova tagged posts

Jellyfish nebula may be the scene of two stars going supernova

Jellyfish nebula may be the scene of two stars going supernova
Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and M. Michailidis et al. 2026; orange, brown: radio, ESA/Planck and MWISP; yellow: optical, DSS; red: infrared, NASA/WISE; violet: ultraviolet, NASA/Swift; teal: X-rays, SRG/eROSITA; magenta: gamma rays, NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration

The star that formed the Jellyfish nebula may have had a partner star that exploded 100,000 years earlier, according to international researchers, who say that this may be the first known discovery of a binary star system in which both stars have gone supernova.

The Jellyfish nebula, known as IC443, is the remnant of a star exploding in a supernova and leaving behind an expanding cloud of debris...

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A rare supernova peeled back a star’s layers and revealed a hidden secret

An illustration of the ‘extremely stripped’ supernova 2021yfj. Keck Observatory / Adam Makarenko

Astronomers studying the rare supernova SN 2021yfj discovered material from one of the deepest layers of a dying star, providing a rare look at its hidden interior. The finding confirms key theories about how massive stars forge the elements that help build planets, worlds, and life.

Astronomers have glimpsed the inner structure of a dying star in a rare kind of cosmic explosion called an “extremely stripped supernova.”

In a paper published in Nature, Steve Schulze of Northwestern University in the United States and colleagues describe the supernova 2021yfj and a thick shell of gas surrounding it.

Their findings support our existing theories of what happens inside massive ...

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Supernova from the dawn of the universe captured by James Webb Space Telescope

Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient (Artist’s Concept) Caption: This is an artist’s concept of one of brightest explosions ever seen in space. Credits: Artwork – NASA, ESA, NSF’s NOIRLab, Mark Garlick , Mahdi Zamani

An international team of astronomers has achieved a first in probing the early universe, using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), detecting a supernova—the explosive death of a massive star—at an unprecedented cosmic distance.

The explosion, designated SN in GRB 250314A, occurred when the universe was only about 730 million years old, placing it deep in the era of reionization. This remarkable discovery provides a direct look at the final moments of a massive star from a time when the first stars and galaxies were just beginning to form.

The event, which has ...

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Cosmic rays from a nearby supernova may help explain Earth-like planets

Cosmic rays from a nearby supernova may help explain Earth-like planets
An illustration of a young solar system immersed in high-energy cosmic rays from a nearby supernova. Unlike considering only direct injection of supernova ejecta, this process naturally explains key radioactive nuclei without destroying the protoplanetary disk. Credit: R. Sawada (AI-assisted illustration)

How common are Earth-like planets in the universe? When I started working on supernova explosions, I never imagined that my research would eventually lead me to ask a question about the origin of Earth-like planets. Yet that is exactly where it brought me.

For decades, planetary scientists have believed that the early solar system was enriched with short-lived radioactive elements—such as aluminum-26—by a nearby supernova...

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