Mysterious 2,000-year-old supernova

The greatest mystery of the ancient supernova discovered by Chinese people 2000 years ago has been decoded.

Two NASA space telescopes have helped scientists resolve one of the most painful mysteries of the first ever recorded explosion: an ancient supernova discovered nearly 2000 years ago. .

In 185 AD, Chinese astronomers witnessed a strange sight: a mysterious 'guest star' appeared in the sky and lingered for 8 months. However, it was not until the 1960s that scientists confirmed that the cosmic object was the first supernova recorded in human history.

The big question is: why is this star explosion so big?

Now, infrared images of supernova by NASA's Spitzer telescope and WISE also reveal that the aforementioned stellar explosion has occurred in a clean atmosphere of dust and gas. Therefore, the explosion can go farther and faster than expected.

'This star explosion is very large and happens very quickly. It's 2-3 times bigger than our thoughts of a stellar explosion and the great thing is that people have seen that phenomenon nearly 2000 years ago , 'said astronomer Brian Williams of the University of North Carolina. statement on Space.com.

Ancient supernova

According to AP, the ancient supernova - codenamed RCW 86 , lies about 8000 light-years from Earth. Although its location was determined, most of the information about the stellar explosion was still covered by a mysterious veil.

One of them is that this star's planet is still very large. If the star's 'gut' could be observed with infrared in the sky at this time, it could be bigger than the moon on the full moon, scientists said.

After combining the data of the two Spitzer and Wise telescopes with the available information, Williams' group found that RCW 86 was an Ia star explosion , triggered by a relative 'peaceful' death of a The star is similar to the sun. This star compresses into white before sucking out the energy from a nearby star. Finally, the white crystal exploded and formed an extremely bright supernova explosion.

'A white crystal is like a cloud of ash and smoke in a fire. If you pour gas on it, it will explode , 'Willams explained.

For the first time, science concluded that a white crystal could create an empty area in the space around it before exploding in an Ia star explosion. The presence of a hole will explain why the RCW 86's surplus planet is so big.

Previously, scientists believed that RCW 86 was made from a "broken core" stellar explosion (which occurs when the core of a star has reached its peak compression and explodes. strongest star explosion).

However, Williams and colleagues eliminated the possibility that RCW 86 was a core burst. Data from the telescopes show that the object contains a very high iron ratio - which is a typical sign to identify the Ia star explosion. Combined with observations from Spitzer, they were able to be sure that the RCW 86 was an attempt on Ia to occur inside a hole of gas and dust.