NASA’s X-ray satellite Chandra has captured the motions of a cosmic structure for the first time. Specifically, the blast wave and debris from an exploded star travels away from the blast site and collides with a wall of gas.
Astronomers estimate that the light from the supernova explosion reached Earth about 1,700 years ago. However, the supernova remnant created by the explosion, which is named MSH 15-52, is one of the youngest in the Milky Way. The explosion also caused the creation of a very dense magnetized star called a pulsar, which then exploded a bubble of energetic particles, an X-ray emitting nebula.
A historical event
Since the explosion, the supernova remnant, made from debris from the shattered star, plus the blast wave from the explosion and the X-ray nebula have changed as they expand into space. Specifically, the supernova remnant and the X-ray nebula are now similar. Some of this debris from the explosion is moving at even faster speeds of more than 11 million miles per hour.
A new study now reports how fast the hand-associated supernova remnant moves when it hits a gas cloud called RCW 89. The inner edge of this cloud forms a wall of gas located about 35 light-years from the center of the planet. explosion.
Although these are staggering speeds , they actually represent a deceleration of the remnant. The researchers estimate that to reach the far edge of RCW 89, the material would have to travel at nearly 30 million miles per hour. This estimate is based on the age of the supernova remnant and the distance between the center of the explosion and RCW 89. This difference in velocity implies that the material has passed through a low-density gas cavity and then slowed significantly. colliding with the RCW 89.
More than 15 years of follow-up
To track the movement, the team used data from the Chandra satellite from 2004, 2008, and then a combined image from observations taken in late 2017 and early 2018.
The star that exploded likely lost some or all of its outer layer of hydrogen gas, forming a cavity before exploding, as did the star that exploded to form the well-known supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A), which is much more young at an age of about 350 years.
About 30% of the massive stars that collapse to form supernovae are of this type. The clumps of debris seen in the 1,700-year-old supernova remnant could be older versions of those seen in Cas A at optical wavelengths in terms of their initial velocities and densities.
This means that these two objects may have the same source for their explosions , which is likely related to the way stars with stripped layers of hydrogen explode. However, astronomers do not yet understand the details of this and will continue to study this possibility.