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Tag: supernovas

  • Argon Hydride Detected in Crab Nebula

    Argon Hydride Detected in Crab Nebula

    Researchers this week revealed that a rare molecule has been spotted in the Crab Nebula. The molecule, Argon Hydride, was found in data collected by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Herschel Space Observatory, which ran out of coolant and ended its mission this past summer.. The finding has been published in the journal Science.

    Though argon on its own is a common byproduct of supernovae, this discovery is the first time astronomers have found a noble-gas based molecule in space.

    “At first, the discovery seemed bizarre,” said Michael Barlow, lead author of the paper and an astronomer at University College London. “With hot gas still expanding at high speeds after the explosion, a supernova remnant is a harsh, hostile environment, and one of the places where we least expected to find a noble-gas based molecule.

    “But we soon realised that even in the Crab Nebula, there are places where the conditions are just right for a noble gas to react and combine with other elements.”

    Argon hydride is formed from certain molecules of Argon and hydrogen molecules. The argon hydride found in the Crab Nebula was found in the so-called transition regions separating regions where ions form and others where molecules are formed.

    Following the discovery, astronomers are planning more research into the Crab Nebula. Specifically, researchers will be searching for other molecules that may be formed from other isotopes of argon.

    “This is not only the first detection of a noble-gas based molecule in space, but also a new perspective on the Crab Nebula, said Göran Pilbratt, project scientist for Herschel at ESA. “Herschel has directly measured the argon isotope we expect to be produced via explosive nucleosynthesis in a core-collapse supernova, refining our understanding of the origin of this supernova remnant.”

    (Image courtesy ESA/Herschel/PACS/MESS Key Programme Supernova Remnant Team; NASA, ESA and Allison Loll/Jeff Hester (Arizona State University))

  • NASA To Start Blowing Up Stars, Creating Supernovas

    Hah, made ya look! While we probably won’t be including “star blowing up” on our list of things to do on Spring Break, NASA did announce that, thanks to new studies using X-ray and ultraviolet observations from the agency’s Swift satellite, its scientists have learned exactly what it takes to cause a star to blow up.

    “For all their importance, it’s a bit embarrassing for astronomers that we don’t know fundamental facts about the environs of these supernovae,” said Stefan Immler, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Now, thanks to unprecedented X-ray and ultraviolet data from Swift, we have a clearer picture of what’s required to blow up these stars.”

    The type of supernova NASA now knows how to spark, a Type Ia supernova, releases explosions that “can outshine their galaxy for weeks and release large and consistent amounts of energy at visible wavelengths.” Evan Ackerman at DVICE made some sense out of NASA’s discovery for the terrestrials: “Type Ia supernovae are a specific type of stellar explosion that are very, very important because astronomers can use them as what’s called “standard candles.” Given that, standard candles are uniquely valuable because they have a known and consistent luminosity that can then be used in to determine the distance of between celestial objects.

    So here’s something: if scientists are learning what causes the obliteration of stars even in the current financial state of NASA, just imagine what spectacular achievements we’d be making if the U.S. federal government didn’t keep hacking away at the agency’s budget.

    Sigh.