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A window into the past: Astronomers capture a 21-million-year-old supernova that was a star more than eight times the size of Earth’s sun
Astronomers have witnessed the catastrophic explosion of a star that happened 21 million years ago.
The supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy appeared as a flickering light in observations made at the National Astronomical Observatory in Gozo.
Labeled SN 2023ixf, the cosmic marvel is the closest explosion seen by human eyes in five years — even though it’s 21 million light-years away.
SN 2023ixf was detected just four minutes after midnight on Friday, allowing researchers to determine that it was a Type II supernova, indicating that it was a star at least eight times the size of our sun.
And while it appears deep in space, astrophotographers also captured stunning images of the event.
The supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy appeared as a flickering light in observations made at the National Astronomical Observatory in Gozo
A type II supernova explosion occurs when a very large star can no longer fuse atoms in its core, causing it to explode and shed its outer layers.
Light from an exploding star can be visible months or even years after the event.
Supernovae are one of the reasons astronomers say we’re all made of stardust because they leave the space around them full of heavy elements.
These elements form a young star, which can later lead to generations of new stars and planets.
SN 2023ixf occurred in the photogenic Pinwheel Galaxy M101, which, only about 21 million light-years away, makes the closest supernova observed in the past five years, the second closest in the last 10 years, and the second supernova to be recorded in M101 over the past 15 years,” NASA shared in a rack.
The Pinwheel Galaxy, or m101, is a giant spiral disk of stars, dust and gas 170,000 light-years across – nearly twice the diameter of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
M101 is estimated to contain at least a trillion stars.
Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy, who takes amazing images of space and shares them on his Twitter account, was one of the first civilians to capture this epic event
The galaxy’s spiral arms are dotted with large areas of star-forming nebulae.
These nebulae are regions of intense star formation in giant molecular hydrogen clouds. Brilliant young clusters of hot blue newborn stars follow the spiral arms.
Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy, who takes stunning images of space and shares them on his Twitter accountswas one of the first civilians to record the epic event.
He put together an animation using several photos of the Pinwheel Galaxy, showing a flashing light in the corner that was the exploding star.
“I used the color data I already had on this galaxy and stacked about 10 minutes worth of exposures to create this animation,” McCarthy tweeted.
“You can see how close the supernova is to some of the nebulae in the arm…imagine the view from there!”
McCarthy told DailyMail.com that he had been photographing the Pinwheel Galaxy for months, and the star exploded like a lucky shot.
NASA said SN 2023ixf will likely brighten and remain visible to telescopes for months.
Andy Howell, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Barbara, explained on Twitter, “You should be able to see it with backyard telescopes for a few months, though it will be just a bright spot.”