BEAUTIFUL BABY SUPERSTARS SEEN FOR THE FIRST TIME NOW

Newborn superstars, just 6 hours old, have recently been detected for the first time ever by NASA spacecraft. They are the youngest ever observed.

Known as Type 1a supernovae, these babies we observed by the Kepler telescope and Swift spacecraft, each at very different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, including radio waves, visible light and X-rays.

This newly discovered cosmic baby is the type of supernova that occurs when a giant star runs out of fuel and explodes.

This is an important set of findings. The young Type 1a supernovae can help scientists to better calibrate, helping them to better measure vast differences in spaces.

Type Ia supernovae explode with similar brightness because the exploding object is always a white dwarf, the Earth-sized remnant of a star like the sun. But supernovas are so bright that they can briefly outshine all of the other stars.

A white dwarf becomes a supernova by merging with another white dwarf or by pulling matter from a nearby companion star. Both scenarios cause thermonuclear reactions.  Peak temperatures can exceed 19,000℉ (11,000℃) or about twice the surface temperature of the sun.  

Kepler grabs a picture every 30 minutes, which enable astronomers to analyze the initial moments of a supernova. These are the first direct measurements capable of informing scientists of the cause of the blast.

The research team monitored 400 galaxies for two years using Kepler. The team discovered three events, designated KSN 2011b, KSN 2011c and KSN 2012a, with measurements taken before, during and after the explosions.

The Kepler also provided the first well-sampled early time light curves of Type Ia supernovae.

The new images suggest that these dying stars may signal their upcoming supernova transition by spewing a disk of material in the months before their deaths.

"It's as if the star 'knows' its life is ending soon, and is puffing material at an enhanced rate during the final breaths," says Ofer Yaron, study co-author and astrophysicist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

The scientists detailed their findings in February (2017), in the journal Nature Physics.

In its next mission, known as K2, the spacecraft will search for more supernovae among many thousands of galaxies.

Future telescopes may be able to help. The Zwicky Transient Factory, which will replace the iPTF later this year, will be able to survey about 10 times more of the night sky than its predecessor.

A space telescope, called ULTRASAT, proposed by the Weizmann Institute and Caltech, aims to detect the first UV signals of a supernova, catching them just minutes after the blast.

Read more about Beautiful Babies in 10 Precious Images & Ideas About The Beauty of Youth.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact Daily Fix posts.

Want more stories like this? Sign up for our weekly BN Newsletter, Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr. Join our BeautifulNow Community and connect with the most beautiful things happening in the world right now!

Do you have amazing photos? Enter them in this week’s BN Photo Competition. We run new creative competitions every week! Now, it’s even easier to enter with the new BeautifulNow App!

Plus check out the rest of our App’s beautiful features. It’s free to download here.

IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: “IRAS 14568-6304 (New Supernova).” Acknowledgements: R. Sahai (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Serge Meunier. Courtesy of: ESA/Hubble & NASA.
2. Image: “G1.9+0.3 Type 1 Supernova.” Courtesy of NASA/CXC/CfA/S.Chakraborti et al.
3. Image: “Artist rendering of a Supernova.” Courtesy of NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI).
4. Image: by BJ Fulton, LCOGT.  “1a Supernova.”
5. Image: “A Supernova Shock Breakout.” (Artist Concept). Courtesy of NASA/Ames/STScI.
6. Image: “An Artist’s Impression of a Supernova.” Courtesy of: NASA/Swift/Skyworks Digital/Dana Berry.
7. Image: “Newborn supernova discovered three hours after its explosion (Type 2 Supernova).” Courtesy of NASA.
8. Image: “Swift UVOT images show M82 before (left) and after the new supernova (right).” Courtesy of NASA/Swift/P. Brown, TAMU.
9. Image: The core-collapse of a Supernova in the pre-explosion. Courtesy of Ott/Caltech & Drasco/Calpoly San Luis Obsipo.
10. Image: by Ofer Yaron. “Artist illustration of the supernova SN 2013fs.”
11. Image: by Daniel Kasen, UC Berkeley. “Type 1a Supernova (brown) Colliding with Companion star (blue).” Computer simulation.
12. Image: “Early Moments after Supernova.” Courtesy of NASA/SDSS.
13. Image: “The Remains of an Ancient Supernova SNR G11.2-0.3 16,000 light years from Earth.” Courtesy of NASA/Chandra X-ray Observatory.
14. Image: “Supernova remnants.” Courtesy of NASA, CXC, SAO.
15. Image: by BN App - Download now!
16. Image: “G1.9+0.3 Supernova Remnant. X-ray.” Courtesy of NASA/CXC/NCSU/S.Reynolds et al. & Radio (NSF/NRAO/VLA/Cambridge/D.Green et al.)