In 185 AD, Chinese astronomers witnessed the appearance of a bright flash in the sky, and they called this object a “guest star”.
Scientists have obtained the new most detailed image of the remnant of the oldest supernova known to people using an instrument designed to study dark matter, writes Space.
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The remnant of the first supernova in history, that is, a large-scale explosion of a star, which Chinese astronomers saw back in 185 AD, was captured in the highest detail by a camera for studying dark matter. It is mounted on the Victor Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The supernova remnant now known as RCW 86 is all that remains of a white dwarf that exploded over 1,800 years ago. The first people to see this supernova were Chinese astronomers, who called it a “guest star”.
A new image of the supernova remnant, now known as SN 185 (after the year of the event), clearly shows scattered clouds of dust and gas that surround the site of the explosion. The supernova explosion was so powerful that it did not disregard the ancient scientists, who described this event in detail in documents that have survived to this day.
The remnant of the first supernova in history, that is, a large-scale explosion of a star, which Chinese astronomers saw back in 185 AD, was captured in the highest detail by a camera for studying dark matter. It is mounted on the Victor Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The supernova remnant now known as RCW 86 is all that remains of a white dwarf that exploded over 1,800 years ago. Chinese astronomers were the first to see the flash of this supernova, who called it a “guest star”
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Photo: NOIRLab
Chinese scientists in 185 AD called the bright flash a “guest star” due to the temporary nature of the object’s stay visible in the sky. Although this time period was as much as 8 months. Astronomers now know that the explosion of supernova SN 185 occurred at a distance of 8 thousand light years from us, after which there was only a huge shell of matter surrounding the explosion site, called RCW 86. Thanks to the highest sensitivity of the Dark Energy Camera, scientists were able to get a new look on the supernova remnant and how it looks today.
Although astronomers are now confident that RCW 86 is the remnant of supernova SN 185, this was not always the case. For a long time, scientists believed that the size of this object is too large to be the remnant of an exploding star just 1800 years ago.
Previous combined infrared and X-ray image of supernova remnant RCW 86
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Photo: NASA
Previous studies have indicated that after a supernova explosion, it will take at least 10,000 years for the material that has flown into space to be so far from the point of explosion. But in the early 2000s, astronomers discovered that a supernova remnant was expanding at a much faster rate than other similar objects. The controversy was finally brought to an end by observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope, which proved that RCW 86 is indeed the remnant of supernova SN 185.
The scientists also found that this supernova is a Type Ia supernova, which is the most energetic explosion among supernovae. Such an explosion occurs after a white dwarf in a binary star system uses its gravity to take almost all the matter from a neighboring star. When it reaches a certain mass, then such a large-scale cosmic explosion occurs. During a Type Ia supernova explosion, so much light is released that it is likely that ancient scientists could observe this event even with the naked eye.
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Photo: ESO
The scientists also found that this supernova is a Type Ia supernova, which is the most energetic explosion among supernovae. Such an explosion occurs after a white dwarf in a binary star system uses its gravity to take almost all the matter from a neighboring star. When it reaches a certain mass, then such a large-scale cosmic explosion occurs. During a Type Ia supernova explosion, so much light is released that it is likely that ancient scientists could observe this event even with the naked eye.
Astronomers hope that this new and deeper look at the supernova remnant will help them better understand the structure’s enigmatic physics and how it formed.
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