2000 Year old Stella Explosion Solved
October 26th 2011 01:45
Category: Cosmic Objects
supernova remnant RCW 86
The mystery of the oldest documented example of a called RCW 86 has been answered.
One of the most documented sighting of a “bright Star” was noted in 185 AD when Chinese astronomers referred to as a "guest star".
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The "guest star" appeared out of the blue over night as it where and remained as a bright star for about eight months. What the Chinese astronomers and the people of the day observed was an exploding star, a massive supernova. What remains is vast expanse of gas and debris.
image showing a portion of the supernova remnant outer gas rings
Around1960s, scientists had concluded that the mysterious object (RCW 86) was the first supernova documented in recorded history.
Observations conducted by the Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has given us more information into the 2000 year old Stella explosion.
The telescope has provided answers to the mystery of how this supernova exploded so quickly and violently
The data provided by the telescope incorporating a series of images from Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space probe show that the stellar explosion occurred in a “confined” space within a hollowed-out cavity.
It is a bit like placing high explosive material in a small encased container. The force of the explosion is magnified many times allowing the material to be expelled at a greater rate. This allows the material in this case material from a star to travel much faster and farther than it would have under normal circumstances.
Astronomers in the 1960s were puzzled at how the star's spherical remains were larger than expected. Now after four decades we know the cause. The supernova remnant is located about 8000 light-years from us. We marvel at the power of the cosmos the images of a once mighty star, even with its ghostly shroud are truly stunning.
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