On the left are bubbles of air that expand after the supernova explodes. The illustration shows a fast-escaping star near the center of the bubble that moves three times faster than other stars in the region. (Image credit: NASA/ESA, CXO and P. Ruiz-Lapuente (University of Barcelona))
Ever since Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe observed a new star on November 11, 1572, astronomers have been exploring what really happened.
A star that is moving away from the scene of the explosion. Astronomers say it is moving three times faster than other stars nearby, and to be precise, it quickly moved away from the scene of a supernova explosion as if it had been fired by a cannon.
The discovery of Tycho's supernova was one of the most important events in the history of science, overturning Aristotle's idea of a static sky for centuries.
Astronomers have deduced that a falling white dwarf star (characterized by high temperature, high density, etc.) absorbs a large amount of material from a normal companion star. This triggered the thermonuclear eruptions of white dwarfs, which instantly brightened beyond the sum of 1 billion solar luminos.
The Companion was hit by an explosion and pushed onto a new orbit that was connected to the previous one.
Flee the scene
Over time, visible light fades away, but as expanding bubbles violently hit the interstellar gas, the region still releases intense X-rays and radio energy. Astronomers have long monitored the phenomenon to determine whether their descriptions of the catastrophe were accurate.
A team of researchers led by Pilar Ruiz-La Pointe of the University of Barcelona found the remains of the "companion star". Its path, speed, and distance from the center of the expanding bubble and the wreckage of the explosives all suggest that it is indeed associated with supernovae.
Ruiz-Lapent told space network reporters: "This star is very special, it is much faster than other stars in the same position."
The star is located about 10,000 light-years from Earth. 1 light-year is the distance at which light travels in a straight line in a year, about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers). So the explosion occurred 10,432 years ago, and Tycho first observed the light emitted by the explosion 432 years ago.
The new discovery was helped by data from the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories. Nature reported the incident in detail.
What this finding means
The discovery allowed the researchers to understand the conditions under which such star explosions occur. Some astronomers have speculated based on this change observed by Tycho Brahe that a type 1a supernova may be the product of a collision between two white dwarfs, rather than the result of mass transfer.
"If it is determined that this companion is the product of a collision between two white dwarfs, then we can know that not all type 1a supernovae are produced by the merger of white dwarfs," David Blanche, a physicist at the University of Oklahoma, wrote in a working analysis in the journal.
Another extremely important reason is that type 1a supernovae are rare in our galaxy but common throughout the universe. Their brightness reaches the maximum brightness we know, and the brightness of the same type of star is almost the same and gradually dims at the same rate. So astronomers call them "standard candles" for measuring distances to distant galaxies.
In the late 1990s, while studying these supernovae, astronomers discovered that the universe was mysteriously expanding at an accelerating rate. Astronomers believe that an unknown force called "dark energy" has contributed to the accelerated expansion of the universe.
"This historic discovery has prompted astronomers to work harder on these types of supernovae," Blanche said.
As telescopes evolve, astronomers can explore deeper, older supernovae; determining the properties of dark energy is a crucial first step in understanding dark energy.
Astronomers say that in galaxies such as the Milky Way, a supernova explodes every 100 years. Another supernova named after the German astronomer Johannes Kepler was discovered in 1604. No such stars have been found since then. The most recently observed supernova, 1987A, was discovered in 1987 in the Large Magellanic Cloud near the Milky Way.
BY: Robert Roy Britt
FY: Aaaaaz
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