Topic: Supernova

NASA reports International Space Station may have detected signs of Dark Matter

April 16, 2013 |

Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA

Washington, D.C. – In science fiction, finding antimatter on board your spaceship is not good news. Usually, it means you’re moments away from an explosion.

In real life, though, finding antimatter could lead to a Nobel Prize.

On April 3rd, researchers led by Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting of MIT announced that the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a particle detector operating onboard the International Space Station since 2011, has counted more than 400,000 positrons, the antimatter equivalent of electrons.  There’s no danger of an explosion, but the discovery is sending shock waves through the scientific community.

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NASA reports astronomers use Suzaku Satellite to gain better understanding of Supernovas

April 10, 2013 |

Written by Francis Reddy
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD – An exploding star observed in 1604 by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler held a greater fraction of heavy elements than the sun, according to an analysis of X-ray observations from the Japan-led Suzaku satellite.

The findings will help astronomers better understand the diversity of type Ia supernovae, an important class of stellar explosion used in probing the distant universe.

This composite of images from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shows the remnant of Kepler’s supernova in low (red), intermediate (green) and high-energy (blue) X-rays. The background is an optical star field taken from the Digitized Sky Survey. The distance to the object is uncertain, with estimates ranging from 13,000 to 23,000 light-years, but recent studies favor the maximum range. This image spans 12 arcminutes or about 80 light-years at the greatest distance. *Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/NCSU/M.Burkey et al.; optical: DSS)

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NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope spies star forming ring of barred spiral galaxy

January 3, 2013 |

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD – The NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope provides us this week with a spectacular image of the bright star-forming ring that surrounds the heart of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1097.

In this image, the larger-scale structure of the galaxy is barely visible: its comparatively dim spiral arms, which surround its heart in a loose embrace, reach out beyond the edges of this frame.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captures image of bright star-forming ring that surrounds the heart of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1097.

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Herschel Space Telescope captures image of dying star’s stellar explosion

November 18, 2012 |

Written by Whitney Clavin
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – The aftershock of a stellar explosion rippling through space is captured in this new view of the supernova remnant called W44. The image combines longer-wavelength infrared and X-ray light captured by the European Space Agency’s Herschel and XMM-Newton space observatories.

NASA also plays an important role in the Herschel mission, with the U.S project office based at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA.

Supernova remnant W44 is the focus of this new image created by combining data from ESA’s Herschel and XMM-Newton space observatories. W44 is the vast purple sphere that dominates the left hand side of this image, and measures about 100 light-years across. (Image credits: Herschel: Quang Nguyen Luong & F. Motte, HOBYS Key Program consortium, Herschel SPIRE/PACS/ESA consortia. XMM-Newton: ESA/XMM-Newton)

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NASA’s Swift Satellite detects high energy X-Rays which leads to discovery of New Black Hole in our Milky Galaxy

October 6, 2012 |

Written by Francis Reddy
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD – NASA’s Swift satellite recently detected a rising tide of high-energy X-rays from a source toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The outburst, produced by a rare X-ray nova, announced the presence of a previously unknown stellar-mass black hole.

“Bright X-ray novae are so rare that they’re essentially once-a-mission events and this is the first one Swift has seen,” said Neil Gehrels, the mission’s principal investigator, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. “This is really something we’ve been waiting for.”

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NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope spots Supernova in a spiral galaxy within the constellation Virgo

September 2, 2012 |

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD – A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows NGC 5806, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo (the Virgin). It lies around 80 million light years from Earth. Also visible in this image is a supernova explosion called SN 2004dg.

The exposures that are combined into this image were carried out in early 2005 in order to help pinpoint the location of the supernova, which exploded in 2004. The afterglow from this outburst of light, caused by a giant star exploding at the end of its life, can be seen as a faint yellowish dot near the bottom of the galaxy.

This image is produced from three exposures in visible and infrared light, observed by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. (Credit: ESA/NASA)

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NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope takes close up of star forming region of the Tarantula Nebula

August 12, 2012 |

Written by Judy Schmidt
European Space Agency

Turning its eye to the Tarantula Nebula, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken this close-up of the outskirts of the main cloud of the Nebula.

The bright wispy structures are the signature of an environment rich in ionized hydrogen gas, called H II by astronomers. In reality these appear red, but the choice of filters and colors of this image, which includes exposures both in visible and infrared light, make the gas appear green.

A close up of the main cloud in the Tarantula Nebula.

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NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array takes it’s first High Energy X-Ray Pictures

July 1, 2012 |

Written by Whitney Clavin
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has snapped its first test images of the sizzling high-energy X-ray universe. The observatory, launched June 13th, is the first space telescope with the ability to focus high-energy X-rays, the same kind used by doctors and dentists, into crisp images.

Soon, the mission will begin its exploration of hidden black holes; fiery cinder balls left over from star explosions; and other sites of extreme physics in our cosmos.

NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has taken its first snapshots of the highest-energy X-rays in the cosmos (lower right), producing images that are much crisper than previous high-energy telescopes (example in upper right). (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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NASA’s Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescope images reveal most Quasars live on Small Meals not Large Ones

June 20, 2012 |

Written by Whitney Clavin
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – Black holes in the early universe needed a few snacks rather than one giant meal to fuel their quasars and help them grow, according to observations from NASA’s Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes.

Quasars are the brilliant beacons of light that are powered by black holes feasting on captured material, and in the process, heating some of the matter to millions of degrees. The brightest quasars reside in galaxies distorted by collisions with other galaxies. These encounters send lots of gas and dust into the gravitational whirlpool of hungry black holes.

The galaxies pictured here have so much dust surrounding them that the brilliant light from their quasars cannot be seen in these images NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Quasars are the brilliant beacons of light that are powered by black holes feasting on captured material, and in the process, heating some of the matter to millions of degrees. (Image credit: NASA/ESA/Yale)

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NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope spots Blue Dwarf Galaxy

June 19, 2012 |

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD – The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this view of the dwarf galaxy UGC 5497, which looks a bit like salt sprinkled on black velvet in this image.

The object is a compact blue dwarf galaxy that is infused with newly formed clusters of stars. The bright, blue stars that arise in these clusters help to give the galaxy an overall bluish appearance that lasts for several million years until these fast-burning stars explode as supernovae.

Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of Dwarf Galaxy UGC 5497. (Image credit: ESA/NASA)

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