Hube has observed a supernova on the outer edge of the spiral Galaxy NGC2525.
NASA, ESA, and a. Rees (STSCI / JHU) and SH0ES team acceptance: m. Zamani (ESA / Hubble)
Titanic, fugitive thermonuclear explosion. An invisible act. Nature’s atomic bomb. NASA knows for sure how to describe the final moments of a supernova, a star’s existence.
Seventy-million light-years away in the beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 2525, a white dwarf erupted and the Hubble Space Telescope watched its last days. NASA and the European Space Agency, which jointly operate Hubble, have had a rare time of fading supernovae.
The Space Telescope first started seeing a supernova named SN 2018 GV in February 2018. Time has passed almost a year covering Hubble observations.
The supernova initially outperforms the other stars in its host galaxy. NASA said in a statement on Thursday that when a star emits as much energy in days as our sun in several billion years, you know it won’t be visible for long.
Hubei observed supernovae while scientists were working to better understand the rate of expansion of the universe. NASA said that supernovae could be used as milepost markers to measure the distances of galaxies, in addition to providing only celestial fireworks. “This yardstick is needed to calculate how fast galaxies appear to fly from one another, which in turn provides an age estimate for the universe.”
Supernovae are relatively common throughout the universe, while Hubble’s time lapse gives us a rare glimpse into the dramatic process, as well as a disturbing reminder that even the stars are not permanent.
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