The most complete picture of an extremely rare supernova

On March 27, Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) said that a multinational team of astronomers led by WIS had captured an extremely rare supernova , thereby painting a "picture of picture" in unprecedented detail about this supernova.

A supernova explosion. (Source: aasnova.org).

A supernova is an instantaneous astronomical event that occurs during the final stages of the evolution of massive stars.

This event usually ends with a huge explosion, marking the destruction of a star. Supernova explosions are one of the reasons why astronomers think that everything is created from stardust.

According to an article published in the journal Nature, the research team used the Hubble Space Telescope of the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to witness in real time one of the closest supernovae in the world. decades, it was a red supergiant star that exploded in the neighboring galaxy Messier 101.

For the first time, researchers have been able to closely monitor a supernova as its light emanates from the surrounding material where the star exploded. They then collected data from the time it was a red supergiant to create the most complete picture of the supernova.

The team also found a gap, believed to be a black hole, between the mass of material released from the star in the explosion and its original mass.

Astronomers concluded that this research offers a "unique" opportunity to better understand the mechanisms that lead to the end of a star's life and the formation of something entirely new. new.