Space and Physics
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Picture this: Prague, October 1604. The then 34-year-old astronomer Johannes Kepler was looking at the constellation of Ophiuchus, and he spotted something that he had not seen before: a new star. It became the brightest star in the night sky, so bright that it was visible during the day for over three weeks. It was a supernova!
It was not even the first supernova in a generation, with SN 1572 being witnessed a few decades earlier, but the appearance of SN 1604 – also known as Kepler’s supernova – appeared at a pivotal moment for Western science, adding to the evidence that the Aristotelian view of the universe was not right.
Over time, the supernova vanished from view, and it was only in 1941 that the remnant was rediscovered. Many observatories have looked at it since, and NASA’s X-ray space telescope Chandra has been keeping an eye on it for a quarter of a century. Those observations have now been turned into a beautiful video showing the remnant expanding.
“The plot of Kepler’s story is just now beginning to unfold,” Jessye Gassel, a graduate student at George Mason University in Virginia who led the work, said in a statement. “It’s remarkable that we can watch as these remains from this shattered star crash into material already thrown out into space.”
The supernova that created SN 1604 is believed to be a type Ia. This refers to the case of a white dwarf, the exposed remnant core of a star like the Sun having run out of fuel, stealing material from a companion star. Historical records from European, Chinese, Korean, and Arabic sources, are consistent with the brightness of a type Ia supernova, but it has been suggested that it might have been an anomalous one.
There is a lot that we do not know about supernovas and their remnants. These explosions produce a lot of the elements that are necessary for planets and life, so knowing more about them lets us gain insight into a plethora of celestial phenomena that end up being necessary for us to be here.
“Supernova explosions and the elements they hurl into space are the lifeblood of new stars and planets,” said Brian Williams of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and principal investigator of the new Chandra observations of Kepler. “Understanding exactly how they behave is crucial to knowing our cosmic history.”
Gassel presented the new Chandra video and the associated research at the 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix, Arizona.
