Supernovae are one of the most spectacular stellar events that we can find in the universe . Now, a team of NASA astronomers, led by Peter Garnavich, professor of astrophysics at the University of Notre Dame (USA) has managed, for the first time in history, to capture the first minutes of an exploding star, stellar explosion or supernova in visible light -with a radius 270 times that of the Sun-, thanks to the Kepler space telescope. This is a new milestone in astronomy.
NASA scientists analyzed the light previously captured by the planet hunter , the Kepler telescope, every 30 minutes over a three-year period in 500 distant galaxies, examining about 50 million stars. The objective was precisely the search for traces, remains or signs of supernovae.
Because it is a sudden event and therefore difficult to locate, witness and be able to record a stellar explosion shock wave upon reaching the surface of a star and controlling the energy flash -which lasted about 20 minutes- it has been quite an achievement in the field of astronomy of this century.
Stars explode when their fuel runs out and the core collapses. The resulting supernova explosion is brighter than the rest of your galaxy and shines for a few weeks; in fact, they are so bright, they can be seen in distant galaxies, which has helped astronomers learn a lot about the large-scale structure of the universe.
“It’s like the shock wave of a nuclear bomb, but much bigger, and no one gets hurt,” said Brad Tucker, co-author of the work.
The video shared by NASA shows an animation that simulates in detail the evolution of the first shock wave that is generated just at the beginning of the explosion of a type II supernova after the collapse of its core.
The study has been published in The Astrophysical Journal.
