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Credit & Copyright: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA,
T.A. Rector (Univ.of Alaska/NSFÁs NOIRLab),
J. Miller (Gemini Obs./NSFÁs NOIRLab), M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSFÁs NOIRLab)
Explanation:
In 185 AD,
Chinese astronomers
recorded the appearance of a new star in the Nanmen asterism.
That part of the sky is
identified with Alpha and Beta Centauri on modern star charts.
The new star was visible to the naked-eye for months,
and is now thought to be the earliest
recorded supernova.
This deep telescopic view
reveals the wispy outlines of emission nebula RCW 86, just visible against
the starry background,
understood to be the remnant
of that stellar explosion.
Captured by the wide-field
Dark
Energy Camera operating at Cerro
Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile,
the image traces the full extent of a ragged shell of gas ionized by the still
expanding shock wave.
Space-based images
indicate an abundance of the element iron in RCW 86 and
the absence of a neutron star or pulsar
within the remnant,
suggesting that the original supernova was Type Ia.
Unlike the core collapse
supernova explosion of a massive star, a
Type Ia supernova
is a thermonuclear
detonation on a white dwarf
star that accretes material from a companion in a binary star system.
Near the plane of our
Milky Way
galaxy and larger than the full moon on the sky this supernova remnant
is too faint to be seen by eye though.
RCW 86 is some 8,000 light-years distant and around 100 light-years across.
J. Miller (Gemini Obs./NSFÁs NOIRLab), M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSFÁs NOIRLab)
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: supernova remnant
Publications with words: supernova remnant
See also:
- APOD: 2024 April 16 Á Filaments of the Vela Supernova Remnant
- APOD: 2024 April 3 Á Unusual Nebula Pa 30
- APOD: 2024 March 25 Á Sonified: The Jellyfish Nebula Supernova Remnant
- APOD: 2024 February 27 Á Supernova Remnant Simeis 147
- The Pencil Nebula Supernova Shock Wave
- APOD: 2023 December 26 Á IC 443: The Jellyfish Nebula
- Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A