Two Indian scientists, Subhashis Roy of NCRA, Pune and Sabyasachi Pal of ICSP, Kolkata, discovered the youngest supernova remnant within the galaxy using Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) near Pune. Their research work has been published in the September 2013 issue of the Astrophysical Journal, by the American Astronomical Society.
"Stars are much heavier than the sun. They die with the phenomenon of supernova explosion. Subsequently, they start emitting radio frequency band. The radiation originates from the high-speed ejecta, expanding in a shell-like structure, with a speed of thousands of kilometers per second. Such shells are usually smaller for new supernova remnants. About thousand supernova remnants are expected to be in our galaxy. In 400 years, about a dozen supernovas should have taken place, but only two have been discovered so far," said an official press release.
"Detailed age analysis suggests that this supernova should have occurred very recently, not older than a few hundred years, making it one of the youngest supernova remnant discovered with GMRT. This rare discovery raises hopes that in future more Supernova remnants can be discovered if done at optimum resolution and sensitivity," added the release.
No comments:
Post a Comment