White Dwarf Star Exploded Several Hundred Years Ago
A study of supernova remnant SNR 0519-69.0 using the Chandra X-ray telescope, Hubble and more has narrowed down its age to several hundred of years. The remnant is located in the "Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy 160,000 light-years from Earth," according to the Chandra team.
Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart
Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart
Transcript
00:00 Visit Chandra's beautiful universe.
00:05 SNR 0519-69.0
00:09 While astronomers have seen the debris from scores of exploded stars in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies,
00:16 it is often difficult to determine the timeline of the star's demise.
00:20 By studying the spectacular remains of a supernova in a neighboring galaxy,
00:25 a team of astronomers has found enough clues to wind back the clock.
00:30 The supernova remnant called SNR 0519-69.0, SNR 0519 for short,
00:38 is the debris from an explosion of a white dwarf star.
00:42 After reaching a critical mass, either by pulling matter from a companion star or merging with another white dwarf,
00:50 the star underwent a thermonuclear explosion and was destroyed.
00:55 Scientists use this type of supernova, called a Type Ia, for a wide range of scientific studies,
01:02 ranging from studies of thermonuclear explosions to measuring distances to galaxies across billions of light-years.
01:10 SNR 0519 is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy 160,000 light-years from Earth.
01:20 A composite image shows X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
01:25 and optical data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
01:29 Astronomers combined data from Chandra and Hubble with data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope
01:36 to determine how long ago the star in SNR 0519 exploded
01:41 and learn about the environment the supernova occurred in.
01:45 These data provide scientists a chance to rewind the aftermath of the star's explosion.
01:51 The researchers compared Hubble images from 2010, 2011, and 2020
01:58 to measure the speeds of material in the blast wave from the explosion,
02:02 which ranged from about 3.8 million to 5.5 million miles per hour.
02:08 If the speed was toward the upper end of their estimate,
02:11 the astronomers determined that light from the explosion would have reached Earth about 670 years ago,
02:17 or during the Hundred Years' War between England and France and the height of the Ming Dynasty in China.
02:23 However, it's likely that the material has slowed down since the initial explosion
02:28 and that the explosion happened more recently than 670 years ago.
02:33 The Chandra and Spitzer data provide clues that this is the case.
02:38 Astronomers found the brightest regions and X-rays of the remnant
02:42 are where the slowest moving material is located
02:45 and no X-ray emission is associated with the fastest moving material.
02:50 These results imply that some of the blast wave has crashed into dense gas around the remnant,
02:56 causing it to slow down as it traveled.
02:59 Astronomers may use additional observations with Hubble to determine more precisely
03:04 when the time of the star's demise should truly be set.
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