supernovae tagged posts

Griffin and Dai developed the data collection methodology used to detect the gamma-ray emission from Arp 220. Credit: University of Oklahoma and NASA

A Uni of Oklahoma team has detected for the first time the most luminous gamma-ray emission from a galaxy -the merging galaxy Arp 220 is the nearest ultraluminous infrared galaxy to Earth, and it reveals the hidden extreme energetic processes in galaxies. The first gamma-ray detection of an ultraluminous infrafred galaxy occurs when the most energetic cosmic rays collide with the interstellar medium causing these galaxies to glow – expanding observations of these galaxies to the highest energy ranges...

Left: Chart of nuclides and important astrophysical reactions. Right: SOHO-EIT image from 14 September 1997 showing a huge eruptive prominence in the resonance line of singly ionized helium (He II) at 304 Angstroms in the extreme ultraviolet. The material in the eruptive prominence is at temperatures of 60,000 – 80,000 K, much cooler than the surrounding corona, which is typically at temperatures above 1 million K. Credit: Image courtesy of Texas A&M Cyclotron Institute and NASA

How old is the universe? What causes a star to catastrophically explode? Answering these and other questions about stellar evolutions requires knowing the rates of the reactions involved...

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...