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Supernova caught exploding on camera
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-22 09:53 They hope to gather information that will help astronomers spot other supernovas more quickly. "Astronomical instruments planned for the future should then allow us to finally unravel the mystery of how these explosions occur," Soderberg said. Supernovas are usually spotted visually days to weeks after the first catastrophic explosion when a star flares up and then fades. But the first burst creates a blast of particles known as neutrinos and a shock wave of kinetic energy that superheats the gas in the outer layers of the star. They in turn send out X-rays that can be the first clue of the fireball to come. "This observation is by far the best example of what happens when a star dies and a neutron star is born," said Kim Page of the University of Leicester in Britain, who led the X-ray analysis. Last week astronomers said they saw the X-ray afterglow of a supernova in Earth's own Milky Way galaxy that would have exploded 140 years ago, Earth-time. |
