When the scientists pointed to the X-ray Observatory of the European Space Agency, XMM-Newton, with two mysterious lights on the outskirts of the great Magellanic cloud, they discovered an unexpected source: two previously unknown supernova remains.
“When a star dies, it can explode in a supernova, causing a strong shock wave and forming an interstellar object called supernova remnant,” wrote an international team of scientists in A role describing the discovery.
“Supernovas are important for the cycle of matter in galaxies and the formation of the next generations of stars,” they continued, “while the shock waves create supernova remains, which heat and ionize the limit medium or the interstellar half, they sweep and compress the matter and enrich their surroundings with chemical elements. “
In an image of visible light recently released from ESA, the remains appear as two different circles in the lower left corner: J0624-6948 (orange, higher placed) and J0614-7251 (blue, lower). Yellow crosses mark the remains of Supernova previously identified.
The great Magelian cloud It is a dwarf galaxy so close to the Milky Way that is visible to the naked eye of the southern hemisphere of the Earth. Together with the small Magellanic cloud, it is one of the largest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, and one of the few stars that still actively form.
In order for a Supernova to leave a remnant behind, the dying star must be surrounded by ionized gases, conditions that are generally found in dense regions and stars formators, not in the outer sections of a galaxy. Ionized gas is typically in active stars -forming regions, where the radiation of young and hot stars eliminates the electrons from atoms
This makes the location of J0624-6948 and J0614-7251 particularly unexpected. However, comparisons with other known supernova remains and theoretical models showed brightness and size size with other supernova remains confirmed in the great Magelian cloud.
“It is surprising that these two sources of light turn out to be remains of Supernova, far from all other echoes of star explosions that we knew before.” wrote ESA scientists in a press release.
This suggests that the great Magelian cloud could have a greater concentration of ionized gas than scientists thought previously.
The team speculates that this could be possible due to the interactions between the great Magelian cloud, the Milky Way and the small Magelian cloud, which may be influencing its gase distribution. As these galaxies interact through gravitational forces, they can be pulling, compressing or even ionizing gas unexpectedly, which could make the outskirts of the great Magelian cloud more active or turbulent than what was previously believed, Returning to the understanding of our structure and star. Forming potential.
The discovery of Supernova’s remains on the outskirts of the great Magellanic cloud confirms that star explosions can occur beyond the main body of a galaxy. For the first time, this allows scientists to study the shock waves of these events, the expelled star material and the surrounding environments in a new way.
“In this way, these two supernova remains are helping us to better understand the dynamics of the neighborhood of our galaxy at home,” the team concluded.
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