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n2doc

(47,953 posts)
Fri Jan 13, 2012, 09:26 PM Jan 2012

Hubble Solves Mystery on Source of Supernova in Nearby Galaxy


Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have solved a longstanding mystery on the type of star, or so-called progenitor, that caused a supernova in a nearby galaxy. The finding yields new observational data for pinpointing one of several scenarios that could trigger such outbursts.

Based on previous observations from ground-based telescopes, astronomers knew that a kind of supernova called a Type Ia created a remnant named SNR 0509-67.5, which lies 170,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy.

The type of system that leads to this kind of supernova explosion has long been a high importance problem with various proposed solutions but no decisive answer. All these solutions involve a white dwarf star that somehow increases in mass to the highest limit. Astronomers failed to find any companion star near the center of the remnant, and this rules out all but one solution, so the only remaining possibility is that this one Type Ia supernova came from a pair of white dwarfs in close orbit.

"We know that Hubble has the sensitivity necessary to detect the faintest white dwarf remnants that could have caused such explosions," said lead investigator Bradley Schaefer of Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge. "The logic here is the same as the famous quote from Sherlock Holmes: 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'"

more

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2012/06/full/
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Hubble Solves Mystery on Source of Supernova in Nearby Galaxy (Original Post) n2doc Jan 2012 OP
"pair of white dwarfs" greiner3 Jan 2012 #1
Political correctness Ron Obvious Jan 2012 #4
Efficient Market economists say there's no such thing as bubbles. tclambert Jan 2012 #2
That's the stuff you figure out while bored on a steamship jakeXT Jan 2012 #3
 

Ron Obvious

(6,261 posts)
4. Political correctness
Mon Jan 16, 2012, 01:13 AM
Jan 2012

I think we've found the politically-correct African-American in the woodpile

Just as an aside, I know it's not my place as a person of average dimensions , but doesn't "little people" sound dreadfully condescending in a precious, "patting on the head" sort of way?

Ah hell, this is way off-topic in an otherwise interesting discussion. I've had too much Vodka. Ignore me! Carry on, as you were.

tclambert

(11,080 posts)
2. Efficient Market economists say there's no such thing as bubbles.
Sat Jan 14, 2012, 04:46 PM
Jan 2012

Now swing the Hubble back and forth to search for the giant bubble wand.

jakeXT

(10,575 posts)
3. That's the stuff you figure out while bored on a steamship
Sat Jan 14, 2012, 09:22 PM
Jan 2012
The Chandrasekhar limit is approximately 1.4 times the mass of the sun. Extraordinarily, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar discovered this as a 20-year-old student by combining the theories of stellar composition, relativity and quantum mechanics during a trip on a steamship from India to England.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/13-most-important-numbers-in-the-universe-chandrasekhar-limit#fbIndex11
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