Tag: Supernova

Technology

Exploring the Cosmic Phenomena of Supernovas and ISRO’s XPOSAT: A Stellar Journey

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”- Carl Sagan This profound statement by Carl Sagan beautifully captures the essence of our cosmic connection. The stars, those twinkling specks in the night sky, are not just distant suns but the very vessels where the recipe of life was cooked. Among the most dramatic events in this cosmic saga are supernovas, stellar explosions of unimaginable scale and power, which seed the universe with the building blocks of planets and life. A supernova occurs when a star reaches the end of its life cycle. The star's core, having exhausted its nuclear fuel, can no longer support the outward pressure against the force of g...
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India’s new ILMT telescope achieves milestone with supernova discovery

The International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) located at the Devasthal Observatory in Nainital, India, has recently marked a milestone by identifying its inaugural supernova, SN 2023af. This breakthrough, detailed in a November 8 report on the arXiv preprint server, signals the ILMT's potential to unearth numerous supernovae in the years to come. These cosmic events, known for their intense luminosity and stellar explosions, offer valuable insights into the evolution of stars and galaxies, providing astronomers with crucial data.The ILMT telescope, boasting a 4-meter diameter and pointing towards the zenith, focuses on photometric and astrometric direct imaging surveys. Astronomers anticipate that this innovative telescope will prove instrumental in discovering transient phenomena s...
Technology

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope snaps a rare glimpse of Crab Nebula

NASA's most powerful James Webb Space Telescope has captured mind-blowing images of the Crab Nebula. The researchers were stunned by how the images could help them to have an in-depth understanding of the behaviour of supernovae. Over the years, the Crab Nebula is been studied to gain more knowledge on supernovae, black holes and other mysteries. To conduct studies, NASA also launched the X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) which has been revealing various facts about the Crab Nebula. Now, the James Webb telescope images have also contributed to the study. Know what the image reveals about the Crab Nebula.Crab Nebula captured by James Webb Space TelescopeThe Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant which is located 6500 light-years away from the Earth in the constellation Taurus. It was formed...
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No human required! In a first, AI detects supernova

The evolution of AI is proving to be a great help to humankind in a lot of ways even though it suffers from some horrific hallucinations that forced OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to say he trusted the answers that come from his AI ChatGPT chatbot the least. However, in a more positive case, artificial intelligence has helped in a groundbreaking achievement in the field of astronomy. AI has detected and confirmed a supernova for the first time that too without human intervention.An international team of scientists developed an AI system known as Bright Transient Survey Bot (BTSbot), which uses machine learning to perform the entire process of discovering, confirming, and classifying supernovas.According to the reports by Northwestern University, this innovative AI system not only minimizes the ...
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NASA’s James Webb Telescope reveals a sight to behold – a Supernova remnant

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has imaged the SN 1987A, a distant supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 168,000 light-years away. Webb Telescope's NIRCam has uncovered intricate structures, outshining prior observations. With international collaboration from NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency, Webb aims to unravel cosmic mysteries using high-resolution imagery. Check out the highlights below: 1. SN 1987A, discovered in 1987, has been a subject of intensive research spanning nearly four decades, examined across various wavelengths from gamma rays to radio waves. 2. The James Webb Space Telescope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) has recently provided valuable insights into the evolution of supernovae and their remnants. 3. A notable discovery is a dense, keyhole-shap...
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Biggest explosion ever! This astounding space eruption lasted 3 years; computers still at work

In a shocking turn of events, astronomers have observed the largest explosion in space, called AT2021lwx, which has been ongoing for three years and is 10 times brighter than any known supernova. It is also three times brighter than the light emitted during tidal disruption events (TDEs) caused by supermassive black holes. The explosion occurred 8 billion light-years away when the universe was 6 billion years old. Initially detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility and later confirmed by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), the event's true scale and power were recently discovered.AT2021lwx is believed to be the result of a black hole violently disrupting a massive cloud of gas, emitting bright electromagnetic radiation as shockwaves spread through the gas and a s...
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Black hole slaughtering a star! Know what is Scary Barbie, the object discovered by AI

The universe is filled with mysteries far beyond the understanding of humans. With every new discovery, we learn a little more about our vast neighborhood. And the more we learn, we realize how little we actually know. Earlier, astronomers believed that the most luminous or brightest cosmic objects were supernova events. But the latest discovery of a black hole destroying a star has rendered their knowledge useless. This cosmic object is still being measured in terms of energy and so far, it is more intense and shines brighter than a 1000 supernova combined together. The most interesting part is that astronomers would never have been able to find this entity if it was not for artificial intelligence or AI.The study was uploaded to the preprint server arXiv and it has been accepted for ...
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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day 24 April 2023: What Star Death left behind-a Supernova

When a star explodes during its death throes, it is known as a Supernova and it is the largest explosion to occur in space. According to NASA, a supernova happens where there is a change in the core, or center, of a star. A change can occur in two different ways, with both resulting in a supernova. Although a supernova occurs for only a short span of time, it can tell scientists a lot about the universe. By studying supernovas, scientists have also shed light on the fact that we're living in an ever-expanding universe.Today's NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is CTB-1, also known as the Medulla Nebula Supernova Remnant. It is a rare cosmic bubble and the remnant of a supernova explosion which occurred just 10000 years ago, according to NASA. The Medulla Nebula Supernova Remnant is give...
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The biggest explosion ever in the cosmos captured by NASA; It BIRTHED a black hole?

NASA captured a wave of radiation hitting Earth that came from the biggest explosion ever recorded in history. Astronomers believe it could be from the explosion of a supernova that actually birthed a black hole. Last year, NASA captured something stunning that strangely went under the radar. A gigantic cosmic explosion was captured by the NASA Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope as well as a few other observatories, which is now being dubbed as the biggest and the brightest explosion in recorded history. As studies are ongoing to gain a better understanding of the event, an early belief is that the energy came from a supernova explosion 1.9 billion light years away, the death of a massive star, and it indicated the birth of a black hole.NASA posted on its blog post, revealing details fr...
Technology

Shocking Supernova! 850-year old star explosion baffles scientists

A rare firework display from an 850-year-old star explosion has shocked scientists. A supernova is a super-powerful explosion of a massive dying star. It is extremely bright. A supernova usually spews out dust and gas, but in a strange event, a new one has been found that looks totally different. In fact, it looks like a fireworks display! Astronomer Robert Fesen, from Dartmouth College of New Hampshire, who snapped the remnant last year, found an unusual cosmic firework display around the Supernova and he told Nature, “I have worked on supernova remnants for 30 years, and I've never seen anything like this."The study says that the earlier star had a surface temperature of 200000 kelvin, Nature report mentioned. The Pa 30 remnant is the aftermath of a supernova which happened some 85...