by NASA’s telescopes have started the year with a fascinating find. A vibrant and festive image captures the remnants of not one, but at least two exploded stars. The explosion that left behind these remnants is known as Supernova Remnant 30 Doradus B, or simply 30 Dor B. This supernova remnant is located in a larger region of space where stars have been forming continuously for the past 8 to 10 million years. Situated 160,000 light-years away from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, this complex region consists of dark clouds of gas, young stars, high-energy shocks, and superheated gas.
To capture this image of 30 Dor B, X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (displayed in purple) was combined with optical data from the Blanco 4-meter telescope in Chile (represented in orange and cyan), and infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (depicted in red). Additionally, black and white optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope was added to highlight distinct features in the image.
A team of astronomers led by Wei-An Chen from the National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, conducted an extensive analysis of the region using over two million seconds of Chandra observing time. They discovered a faint shell of X-rays spanning approximately 130 light-years. To put this into perspective, the nearest star to our sun is approximately four light-years away. The Chandra data also revealed the presence of winds of particles blowing away from a pulsar within 30 Dor B, resulting in the creation of a pulsar wind nebula.
The findings of this study led by Wei-An Chen were recently published in the Astronomical Journal. The co-authors of the paper include Chuan-Jui Li, You-Hua Chu, Shutaro Ueda, Kuo-Song Wang, Sheng-Yuan Liu, all from the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics; Academia Sinica, in Taipei, Taiwan, and Bo-An Chen from National Taiwan University.
By combining data from Chandra, Hubble, and other telescopes, the researchers deduced that a single supernova explosion could not account for the observed phenomena. Instead, they propose that both the pulsar and the bright X-rays observed at the center of 30 Dor B were a result of a supernova explosion that occurred around 5,000 years ago, following the collapse of a massive star. However, the larger, faint X-ray shell surrounding the remnant is too substantial to have been produced by the same supernova.
The team suggests that there were potentially multiple supernova explosions in 30 Dor B, with the X-ray shell originating from a separate supernova over 5,000 years ago. They also speculate that further events may have occurred in the past.
This groundbreaking discovery provides astronomers with valuable insights into the lives of massive stars and the consequences of their explosive supernova events. It opens up new avenues for studying these cosmic phenomena and deepening our understanding of the universe.
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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
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