Hubble Surveys Supernova-Rich Spiral – NASA Science
Rich in details, the Spiral Galaxy NGC 1309 shines in this image of NASA / ESA Hubble space telescope. NGC 1309 is around 100 million light years in the Eridanus constellation.
This superb Hubble image encompasses the bluish stars of NGC 1309, the clouds of dark brown gas and the pearly white nucleus, as well as hundreds of distant background galaxies. Almost all stains, sequence and drop of light in this image are an individual galaxy, some brilliant through less dense regions of NGC 1309 itself. The only exception to this extragalactic set is a star near the top of the frame identified by its diffraction tips. The star is positively a few thousand light years in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Hubble turned his attention to NGC 1309 several times; Images of previous hubble of this galaxy were published in 2006 and 2014. A large part of the scientific interest of NGC 1309 derived from two supernovae, SN 2002FK in 2002 and SN 2012z in 2012. SN 2002FK was a perfect example of an IA supernova, which occurs when the nucleus depressed with a dead star (a white dwarf) explodes.
SN 2012z, on the other hand, was a bit of a renegat. It was classified as an IAX type supernova: although its spectrum looked like that of an IA type supernova, the explosion was not as shiny as expected. Hubble’s observations have shown that in this case, the supernova has not completely destroyed the white dwarf, leaving behind a “zombie star” which shone even more than it did before the explosion. NGC 1309 Hubble’s observations taken in several years also made astronomers spotted a star system that later produced an unusual supernova explosion of a white dwarf.
Text credit: ESA / Hubble
Media contact:
Claire Andreol (Claire.andreoli@nasa.gov))
Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center,, Greenery belt, MD
