![]() ![]() European Southern ObservatoryĪstronomers spy the ghost of a star and cosmic cobwebsįurther research, in the form of X-ray data, revealed large amounts of iron around the region of RCW 86, indicating this supernova was a different type of stellar explosion that occurs within a pair of stars called a binary star system. The result is an extremely detailed and stunning view of both the gaseous filaments in the remnant and the foreground bright blue stars that add sparkle to the image. To capture this image, four filters have been used, represented here by a combination of magenta, blue, green and red. OmegaCAM can take images through several filters that each let the telescope see the light emitted in a distinct colour. This detailed image consists of 554 million pixels, and is a combined mosaic image of observations taken with the 268-million-pixel OmegaCAM camera at the VLT Survey Telescope, hosted at ESO's Paranal Observatory. This image shows a spectacular view of the orange and pink clouds that make up what remains after the explosive death of a massive star - the Vela supernova remnant. Initially, astronomers believed that when a massive star explodes in a supernova, it would take about 10,000 years for the remnants of that explosion to form a ring-like structure such as the one visible in the Dark Energy Camera’s new image.īut researchers now suspect this supernova experienced an extremely high expansion velocity, meaning the ring structure could form in as little as about 2,000 years after its explosion. The new image is helping astronomers understand how supernovas evolve.īut researchers didn’t always know that SN 185 and RCW 86 were the same thing. The rest of the wide field image is filled with stars. Wispy strands mark the glowing remains of the supernova, appearing to float like clouds away from the ancient explosion. Supernova reveals rare pair of stars believed to be one of only about 10 like it in the Milky Way These systems are so phenomenally rare that only about 10 such systems are thought to exist in the entire Milky Way. This is an artist's impression of the first confirmed detection of a star system that will one day form a kilonova - the ultra-powerful, gold-producing explosion created by merging neutron stars.
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