NuSTAR telescope helps decode supernova explosions

NASA's NuSTAR nuclear spectrophotometer is currently helping scientists decipher the mystery of how stars become supernova by mapping the remnants of the radiation material after the supernova explosion. fine. NuSTAR's findings raise doubts about previous theories about the conditions required before a star explodes to become a supernova.

Launched on June 13, 2012, NuSTAR is the first space telescope capable of imaging the remaining radioactive elements after a supernova explosion. To do this, NuSTAR focuses its ability to search into high-energy X-ray areas (6 to 79 KeV energy levels) of the electron spectrum. The telescopes were previously unable to observe light in this spectral range.

NuSTAR collected new data by observing the remains of a supernova called Cassiopeia A - a star before becoming a supernova eight times larger than our Sun. When mapping Cas A, the telescope on NuSTAR searched for Titanium-44. This is the radioactive isotope that appears only in the final stages of a dead star. Therefore, Titanium-44 is the perfect element to detect and map a supernova explosion.

Researcher Brian Grefenstette from California University of Technology (Caltech) said: "Previously, it was difficult to clarify what happened to Cas A because the material we could see only appeared in X-rays when it is heated, we can now observe radioactive materials appearing in X-rays uneasily and we are approaching to finalize a picture of what happens at mind explosion ".

NuSTAR found the Titanium-44 isotope concentrated around Cas A. 's mind. This helped scientists at NASA give a more convincing explanation of the death of a giant star like Cas A. Yes apparently, the reason why the star exploded was a huge shockwave, tearing the star into pieces. However, sometimes shock waves do not reach maximum magnitude and stop, preventing the star from releasing outer layers of matter that supernova explosion cannot occur.

Information gathered from NuSTAR's observations on Cas A suggests that a supernova explosion that emits material around is like a water surface vibrating when a rock is thrown into it, causing an effect. kick-start - provokes a standing shock wave that causes the star to continue to become a supernova.

NuSTAR's new discovery also rejects the previously proposed symmetric theory concerning the processes needed to form a supernova. The result of processing data from supercomputers suggests that a supernova explosion is always symmetrical in every direction.

In addition, the ability to detect elements such as Titanium-44 also raises doubts about the research models of supernova explosions that have been carried out. One of these models suggests that a dying star will rotate at great speed before exploding. However, when looking for evidence from particles released when the star turns itself at high velocity, NuSTAR does not detect the signs of Titanium-44. This means that the jet of particles released from the star is not activated by the supernova explosion.

Currently, the team is continuing to survey Cas A to gain a better understanding of the end scenarios of these giant stars. A report on the discovery has just been published in Nature.