Floating among the stars, this cosmic bubble might look delicate, but it is the signature of a violent explosion. It is a supernova remnant, the gaseous remains of a star that blew up. Named SNR 0509-67.5 (or SNR 0509 for short), it inhabits a small, nearby galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud, roughly 160,000 light-years away. On Earth, stargazers in the southern hemisphere could have seen the explosion about 400 years ago, but so far, no eye-witness accounts have turned up.
This bubble of gas is 23 light-years across and growing. It is expanding at more than 11 million miles per hour (5,000 kilometers per second). Ripples in the edge of the bubble (best seen in the upper left) could be caused by uneven scraps of material ejected by the exploded star, or by clumpiness in the surrounding gas that the supernova material is slamming into as it rushes outward.
This celestial sphere was created by a kind of explosion known as a Type Ia supernova. Type Ia supernovae are valuable for measuring distances across the universe, because they are thought to have a standard peak brightness when they explode.
Astronomers believe Type Ia explosions result from the destruction of a white dwarf — the small, compact core of a once-average star that ran out of the nuclear fuel needed to sustain its high-powered life. One explanation is that a white dwarf self-destructs after using its gravity to steal material from a nearby star, causing it to become unstable under the extra bulk and explode. Another idea is that the detonation happens when two white dwarfs collide, destroying both objects.
To investigate the cause of SNR 0509, astronomers Bradley Schaefer and Ashley Pagnotta of Louisiana State University studied archived Hubble data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3 to search for a surviving star that could have fed the doomed white dwarf. However, the Hubble observations turned up none. If a star were there, it should have shown up.
There's only one possible explanation, say Schaefer and Pagnotta. For this supernova, the collision of two white dwarfs is to blame.
Constellation: Dorado
Distance: 160,000 light-years (50,000 parsecs)
Instrument: Advanced Camera for Surveys/WFC and Wide Field Camera 3/UVIS
Image Filters: F475W (g), F555W (V), F658N (H-alpha+[N II]), F814W (I)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | SNR 0509-67.5 |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
