NASA RELEASES HUBBLE IMAGES OF STAR RIGHT AS IT EXPLODES

“I THINK THAT’S PROBABLY ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING THINGS I’VE EVER SEEN!”

Lucky Shot

It’s incredibly unusual to witness a star’s supernova explosion in real time. Fortunately, astronomers looking through the Hubble Space Telescope’s observational data from 2010 found images of an exploding star hiding behind a galaxy cluster from around 11 billion years ago. This is the first time such an event has been detected from so early in the cosmos.

Wenlei Chen, a researcher at the University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy and the lead author of a related study that was published in the journal Nature, said in a NASA statement that “it is quite rare that a supernova can be detected at a very early stage, because that stage is really short.”

“It barely lasts for hours to a few days, and even for a local detection, it may be easily overlooked,” he continued. We can witness a series of photos in the same exposure, similar to the several faces of a supernova.

Third time’s the charm?

Hubble witnessed three faces of a star’s evolving supernova explosion, thanks to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. Read more: https://t.co/dGbvAXeFkR

Learn more in this video! pic.twitter.com/yZbK6ZrMMJ

— Hubble (@NASAHubble) November 9, 2022

Warped Perception

By using gravitational lensing, which is a phenomena, we were able to see the distant supernova. Telescopes can view far-off objects that would otherwise be too dim because of the way a galaxy’s gravity bends and magnifies the light behind it.

Surprisingly, the warping turned out to be an even bigger help than anticipated since it allowed for the simultaneous collection of numerous photos, or “three faces,” from various eras. The numerous “routes” of light all arrived at the same time since they went different distances via the lensing and were, in fact, slowed down by the powerful gravitational pull of the lens galaxy.

The scientists were able to gauge the supernova’s pace of cooling and determine the size of the star before to its explosion thanks to that brief timelapse. They think it was a red behemoth that was more than 500 times as massive as the Sun.

The study’s lead author, Patrick Kelly, an associate professor in the University of Minnesota’s School of Physics and Astronomy, said in a release, “You see various hues in the three separate photographs. “The big star’s core collapses, creating a shock, heating it up, and then cooling over the course of a week. One of the most incredible sights I’ve ever seen, in my opinion!”

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