Hubble Captures the Aftermath of a Cosmic Cataclysm

Hubble DEM L249

Hubble Area Telescope picture of an object often known as DEM L249, the tattered remnant of a supernova. Credit score: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Y. Chu

The tattered remnant of a supernova — a titanic explosion marking the tip of the lifetime of a dying star — is proven on this picture from the NASA/ESA Hubble Area Telescope. This cosmic object — often known as DEM L249 — is believed to have been created by a Kind 1a supernova through the dying throes of a white dwarf. Whereas white dwarfs are normally secure, they will slowly accrue matter if they're a part of a binary star system. This accretion of matter continues till the white dwarf reaches a essential mass and undergoes a catastrophic supernova explosion, ejecting an unlimited quantity of fabric into area within the course of.

DEM L249 lies within the constellation Mensa and is inside the Giant Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small satellite tv for pc galaxy of the Milky Means solely 160,000 light-years from Earth. The LMC is a perfect pure laboratory the place astronomers can research the births, lives, and deaths of stars, as this area is close by, oriented in direction of Earth, and accommodates comparatively little light-absorbing interstellar mud. The information on this picture had been gathered by Hubble’s Vast Area Digicam 3 instrument, and had been obtained throughout a scientific search of the LMC for the surviving companions of white dwarf stars which have gone supernova.

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