After two years tracking a supernova , a team of NASA astronomers has finally reached their long-awaited goal.
The discovered supernova is the youngest in the Milky Way , traveling at 45 million kilometers per hour and would have formed around 140 years ago . The discovery was made after comparing photographs of the Chandra X-ray space telescope , taken in the last twelve months, and the powerful VLA ( Very Large Array ) radio astronomical observatory.
The celestial object had not been seen until now because it exploded near the center of the galaxy and became embedded in a dense field of gas and dust, the scientists noted. This made it three million times more imperceptible than if it had been in the dark. "We can see some supernova explosions with optical telescopes in the middle of the universe, but when they are wrapped in that density we tend to lose them from our visual field," explained the director of the research, Stephen Reynolds, of the University of North Carolina.
According to Reynolds, this discovery is essential to more accurately calculate the age of other explosions in the Milky Way .
