Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Tech & Science

Astronomers see same supernova several times with Hubble

With the advent of space telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope — and the fast computers to analyze inhuman amounts of data — the field has exploded, and the latest results from Hubble are just one example.

Friday, a team of scientists published an image in the journal Science that is unlike anything ever seen before. The image, shown above, is of a powerful type of cosmic explosion called a supernova. And thanks to the crazy way in which gravity manipulates space, Hubble has caught this exact same supernova four times over, indicated by the arrows in the photo above.

A supernova occurs when a massive star — far more massive than our sun — ends its life in a brilliant and explosive display of light. The light from this particular supernova took 9 billion years to reach Earth.

The reason we can see four different images of the supernova is because of the way that gravity distorts the fabric of space. In 1916, Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity first predicted this behavior, called gravitational lensing, and astronomers have seen numerous examples of it.

Never before have astronomers seen this kind of effect for a supernova, and the rare image could help improve estimates of dark matter, the elusive, invisible material that makes up a quarter of everything in the universe.

The way gravitational lensing works is when an extremely massive object, like a galaxy cluster, curves the space around it — like the way a bowling ball would curve a trampoline. If you stand on one side of the trampoline and role a marble across to your friend on the opposite side, the marble’s path would not be straight but instead would follow the curve made by the bowling ball.

The same thing happens for light traveling through space. The bowling ball in this case is a galaxy cluster called MACS J1149.5+223 and is located 5 billion light years from Earth. Below is an image showing how the closer galaxy cluster bends light from the supernova toward Earth.

Untitled

NASA & ESA

“The massive galaxy cluster focuses the supernova light along at least three separate paths,” Jens Hjorth, from the Dark Cosmology Centre in Denmark and a co-author on the paper, said in a statement released by the European Space Agency. “And then when one of those light paths happens to be precisely aligned with a single elliptical galaxy within the cluster, a secondary lensing effect occurs.”

This secondary lensing effect actually magnifies the supernova so that it appears 20 times brighter than its natural brightness.

A close-up of the supernova astronomers have seen explode over and over again

A close-up of the supernova astronomers have seen explode over and over again
NASA, ESA, S. Rodney (John Hopkins University, USA) and the FrontierSN team; T. Treu (University of

This article originally appeared in Business Insider. Copyright 2015.

Written By

You may also like:

Life

Glassblowing is an ancient craft that can be used to create a variety of wondrous objects, from the functional to the purely aesthetic.

Entertainment

Nick Bateman and Jen Lilley in 'Operation Mistletoe.' Photo Courtesy of Hulu.Actors Nick Bateman and Jen Lilley star in the new holiday rom-com “Operation...

Life

The 20-year-old Syrian was rescued but when he woke up in hospital and asked about his dad nobody knew anything.

World

COP29 will focus on climate finance for developing countries - Copyright AFP Alexander NEMENOVSara Hussein and Ivan CouronneThe COP29 climate talks open Monday in...