Image of the Day: 17/9/14

(Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SAO)

The bright blue dot in this image is an energetic pulsar – the magnetic, spinning core of star that blew up in a supernova explosion – that was discovered by NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR).

Hubble Space Telescope locates supernova companion star after 20-year search

(Artist’s impression of supernova 1993J, which exploded in the galaxy M81 – Photo Credit: NASA/ESA/G. Bacon)

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered the blue helium-burning companion star to a rare type of supernova that detonated 21 years ago. The discovery confirms a long-held theory that the supernova, known as SN 1993J, occurred inside a binary system, where two interacting stars cause a cosmic explosion. 

European Space Agency’s Integral gamma-ray observatory discovers dead stars can re-ignite and explode

(This composite Hubble image shows the SN2014J Type la supernova in visible light superimposed on a mosaic of the entire galaxy – Photo Credit: NASA/ESA/A. Goobar/Hubble Heritage Team/AURA)

Astronomers using the European Space Agency’s Integral gamma-ray observatory have found that dead stars, known as white dwarfs, can reignite and explode as supernovae. Scientists long suspected that Type Ia supernovas were the result of white dwarf stars blowing up, due to a disruptive interaction with a companion star, however this theory had lacked definitive evidence until now.

Image of the Day: 21/8/14

(Photo Credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/IAFE)

The results of a destructive supernova explosion have been captured in infrared and X-ray light in this image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton.

Chandra Observatory searches for the cause of nearby supernova

(Supernova SN 2014J – Photo Credit: NASA/SAO/CXC/R. Margutti et al)

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory is helping determine what caused SN 2014J, one of the closest supernovas discovered in decades.

X-ray data, captured before and after the stellar explosion, has revealed information about the environment around the supernova, enabling scientists to learn more about the possible cause of the explosion. 

NASA spacecraft discovers microscopic particles of interstellar dust that originated from outside of our solar system

(Artist’s concept of the Stardust spacecraft – Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Scientists believe that seven microscopic particles of dust, collected by NASA’s comet-chasing Stardust spacecraft, originated from outside of our solar system, signalling the world’s first examination of interstellar dust.

Image of the Day: 8/8/14

(The two inset images show before-and-after images of Supernova 2012Z in the spiral galaxy NGC 1309. The white X at the top of the main image marks the location of the supernova in the galaxy – Photo Credit: NASA/ESA)

Following an unusually weak supernova explosion, a team of astronomers, using the Hubble Space Telescope, have spotted the left over remains of a dying star.

A supernova typically obliterates the exploding white dwarf however on this occasion, scientists believe that the faint supernova may have left behind a surviving portion of the star. Some are calling the remains a “zombie star”.

Image of the Day: 23/6/14

(Photo Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS/SPIRE/HOBYS)

The European Space Agency’s Herschel space observatory captured this amazing image showing a sequence of star-forming regions in the molecular cloud W48, which is 10,000 light-years away from Earth in the Aquila constellation.