Wednesday, January 15, 2014

What a Star About to Go Supernova Looks Like

What a Star About to Go Supernova Looks Like:
SBW2007 is a nebula with a giant star at its center. All indications are that it could explode as a supernova at any time. Credit: ESA/NASA, acknowledgement: Nick Rose.
What a Star About to Go Supernova Looks Like
SBW2007 is a nebula with a giant star at its center. All indications are that it could explode as a supernova at any time. Credit: ESA/NASA, acknowledgement: Nick Rose.
No, this isn’t a distant view of the London Eye. This nebula with a giant star at its center is known as SBW2007. Astronomers say it has striking similarities to a star that went supernova back in 1987, SN 1987A. Both stars had identical rings of the same size and age, which were travelling at similar speeds; both were located in similar HII regions; and they had the same brightness. We didn’t have the telescopic firepower back before 1987 like we do now, so we don’t have a closeup view of how SN 1987A looked before it exploded, but astonomers think SBW2007 is a snapshot of SN1987a’s appearance, pre-supernova.

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Read the rest of What a Star About to Go Supernova Looks Like (169 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2014. |
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