Observations with multiple telescopes yield new insights into the final stages in the evolution of a massive star before it exploded in a core-collaps

Astronomers witnessed the spectacular death of a star as it happened

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2021-10-28 04:30:07

Observations with multiple telescopes yield new insights into the final stages in the evolution of a massive star before it exploded in a core-collapse supernova

Unprecedented observations of a nearby supernova in 2020 have given astronomers an extraordinarily detailed look at the explosion of a massive star, including images taken immediately before and after the explosion. The result is a complete picture of the death of a red supergiant star when it runs out of fuel, collapses under its own gravity, and explodes in a core-collapse supernova.

"We used to talk about supernova work like we were crime scene investigators, where we would show up after the fact and try to figure out what happened to that star," explained Ryan Foley, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz. "This is a different situation, because we really know what's going on and we actually see the death in real time."

Foley’s team reported their findings in a paper published October 21 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.