2000 Year-Old Supernova Mystery Revealed

2000 Year-Old Supernova Mystery Revealed

Astronomers with the help of two NASA telescopes, Spitzer and WISE or Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, managed to solve the mystery of 2,000-year-old supernova. Age called refers to the time span between the discovery of the supernova with the current.

The supernova called RCW 86 and is located 8000 light years from Earth. The supernova astronomers found China in 185 AD and looked at the sky at that time for 8 months. Chinese astronomers at that time called it a "guest star". New in 1960, it is known that RCW 86 is the supernova.

Mysteries of the supernova is a round shape that is larger than the usual. Astronomers say, if a supernova exploded today as well as seen in infrared light, the space taken up is greater than the space a full moon.

Through research, astronomers discovered that the supernova was a Type Ia supernova. Previously, the supernova was the star shrinks to a white dwarf star, suck material from stars located in nearby companions, and then exploded.

"The explosion of white dwarfs resemble gray smoke coming from the fire. If you have fuel, then it will explode," said Brian Williams, an astronomer at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, told Space.com.

Studies also show that for the first time, white dwarfs can create an empty space around it before it explodes. The existence of this empty space that could make remnant RCW 86 appear larger than generally. According to astronomers, the empty space allows the material issued by freely along the gas and dust. The empty space also allows the remnants of scattered stars.

"Modern Astronomy uncovered a 2,000-year-old mystery of the cosmos to unravel the mystery of the others. Now, with many observatories that enrich our knowledge about the cosmos, we can marvel at the physics behind the death of this star, with still keeping a sense of awe like the ancient astronomers," says Bill Danchi, program scientist at NASA's Spitzer and WISE.

Source : SPACE.COM