supernovae tagged posts

False color image of Cassiopeia A using Hubble and Spitzer telescopes and Chandra X-ray Observatory. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

An international team of scientists has found evidence of a series of massive supernova explosions near our solar system, which showered Earth with radioactive debris. The scientists found radioactive iron-60 in sediment and crust samples taken from the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The iron-60 was concentrated in a period between 3.2 and 1.7 million years ago, which is relatively recent in astronomical terms.

“We were very surprised that there was debris clearly spread across 1.5 million years,” said Dr Wallner, a nuclear physicist in the ANU Research School of Physics and Engineering. “It suggests there were a series of supernovae, one after another...

The explosive death of this star, called KSN 2011d, reaches its maximum brightness in about 14 days. The shock breakout itself lasts only about 20 minutes, so catching the flash of energy is an investigative milestone for astronomers. The unceasing gaze of NASA’s Kepler space telescope allowed astronomers to see, at last, this early moment as the star blows itself to bits. Credit: NASA, ESA, Armin Rest (STScI) and Peter Garnavich (University of Notre Dame)

An international team of astrophysicists led by Prof Peter Garnavich, Notre Dame, has caught 2 supernovae in the act of exploding. Using the Kepler Space Telescope, the team spent 3 years observing 50 trillion stars for the chance to watch as supersonic shockwaves reached their surfaces after explosions deep in the core...

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the star cluster Trumpler 14. One of the largest gatherings of hot, massive and bright stars in the Milky Way, this cluster houses some of the most luminous stars in our entire galaxy. Credit: NASA & ESA, Jesús Maíz Apellániz (Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia)

When single stars join forces, they create truly breathtaking scenes to rival even the most glowing of nebulae or swirling of galaxies. A new image features the star cluster Trumpler 14. One of the largest gatherings of hot, massive and bright stars in the Milky Way, this cluster houses some of the most luminous stars in our entire galaxy.

Around 1100 open clusters have so far been discovered within the Milky Way, although many more are thought to exist...

Snapshot from a simulation of the first stars in the Universe, showing how the gas cloud might have become enriched with heavy elements. The image shows one of the first stars exploding, producing an expanding shell of gas (top) which enriches a nearby cloud, embedded inside a larger gas filament (centre). The image scale is 3,000 light years across, and the colourmap represents gas density, with red indicating higher density. Credit: Britton Smith, John Wise, Brian O’Shea, Michael Norman, and Sadegh Khochfar

Researchers have discovered a distant, ancient cloud of gas that may contain the signature of the very first stars that formed in the Universe...