2023-06-10 05:22:00
(CNN) — A bright new supernova appeared in the night sky, and a telescope located on top of Mauna Keain Hawaii, was perfectly prepared to capture the aftermath of the cosmic outburst.
On May 19, the Japanese astronomer Koichi Itagaki first observed the supernova in the spiral arms of the Pinwheel galaxy. Itagaki, an avid supernova hunter, has discovered more than 80 stellar explosions from his observatory in the Yamagata Mountains of Japan.
The supernova, named SN 2023ixf, is the closest seen in five years. A supernova occurs when a star explodes violently at the end of its life.
The Pinwheel galaxy is located in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major, about 21 million light years from the earth. The galaxy faces Earth, revealing its impressive spiral structure and the nearly one billion stars it contains.
The galaxy’s spiral arms are filled with nebulae, or star-birth regions, shown in pinkish light. The blue points of light in the image taken by the Hawaiian telescope reflect the population of hot, young stars. Dark dust regions are one of the key ingredients for star formation.
(Credit: Gemini International Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
The new supernova shines bright blue in one of the galaxy’s spiral arms, at the bottom left of the image. Astronomers believe it is a type II supernova, when a star between eight and 50 times the mass of our Sun exhausts its reserve of nuclear fuel, collapses, and explodes. It is the second supernova observed in the Pinwheel galaxy in 15 years.
Astronomers are using telescopes to observe the newly discovered supernova in order to better understand how stars explode and to track the evolution and fading of the explosion’s brightness over time.
The new image of the aftermath of the supernova taken by the Gemini North telescope, located in Hawaii, marks his return to scientific observations after a hiatus of seven months.
The primary mirror of the telescope broke down in october during its transport, in which one of the edges was chipped. It has since been refitted, given a new layer of protective coating, and has been reinstalled, allowing the telescope to resume its search for cosmic phenomena in the night sky.
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