The light from a star explosion can be visible for months or even years following the event, although it was detected in December 2021, the supernova explosion happened 500 million years ago – and it took that long for the light to reach Earth.
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Archive photo of the moment a star explodes
Astronomers have captured the moment a star exploded 500 million light-years from Earth, in a dramatic supernova.
The explosion of a type II supernova occurs when a very large star is unable to fuse atoms within its nucleus, which leads to its explosion and the disposal of its outer layers.
The supernova, called SN2021afdx, occurred in the unusually shaped Cartwheel galaxy, which is located in the constellation Sculptor.
Astronomers captured the image in December 2021 using the European Southern Observatory’s (NTT) New Technology Telescope in Chile. They then compared the image to one from the same galaxy, taken with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in August 2014 – before the supernova explosion occurred.
A bright new light can be seen in the lower left side of the new image, which is not visible in the 2014 image.
The light from a star explosion can be visible for months or even years following the event, although it was detected in the first canon. December 2021, but the supernova explosion occurred 500 million years ago – and it took that long for the light to reach Earth.
THAT #Flashback: This VLT image features the central parts of the starburst galaxy NGC 1313, showing the very active state of this galaxy and the many star formation regions.
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Credit: @THAT pic.twitter.com/4oxEd4n9kf— IT (@IT) March 15, 2022
It is located inside the Cartwheel Galaxy, which was once an ordinary spiral galaxy that underwent direct interaction with a smaller companion galaxy several million years ago, giving it its distinctive appearance.
SN2021afdx was a Type II supernova, which occurs when a massive star reaches the end of its evolution and leaves behind a black hole or neutron star. Supernovae are one reason astronomers say we are all made of star dust, because they leave the space around them full of heavy elements.
These elements are formed in the form of a young star, which may later give rise to generations of new stars and planets.
Discovering and studying these unexpected events requires international cooperation across multiple telescopes.