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XMM-Newton's anniversary view of supernova SN 1987A
Twenty years after the first detection of SN 1987A, the nearest supernova ever detected since the invention of the telescope, XMM-Newton provided a fresh-new view of this object. The source keeps brightening-XMM-Newton confirms.   view more (2007-02-26)

Clues To Supernova Origin Found In Dusty Stellar Wind
Scientists from Imperial College London have detected a dusty wind emitted by a star that, at the end of its life, turned into a white dwarf and then exploded as a supernova. This is the first time that a wind from this type of supernova precursor has been observed and it is also the first time... view more (2005-03-30)

CERN scientists predict supernova
A team of theoretical physicists working at CERN and the Technion Institute of Technology in Israel has developed a theory to account for the mysterious gamma ray bursts that come from the depths of the Universe. According to their ideas, gamma ray bursts are linked to supernovae, the cataclysmic... view more (2003-04-15)

Twin Star Explosions Fascinate Astronomers
Scientists using NASA's Swift satellite stumbled upon a rare sight, two supernovas side by side in one galaxy.   view more (2006-11-21)

Supernova remnant menagerie
The supernova remnant N 63A is a member of N 63, a star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Visible from the southern hemisphere, the LMC is an irregular galaxy lying 160,000 light-years from our own Milky Way galaxy.   view more (2005-06-07)

NASA's Swift Sees Double Supernova in Galaxy
In just the past six weeks, two supernovae have flared up in an obscure galaxy in the constellation Hercules. Never before have astronomers observed two of these powerful stellar explosions occurring in the same galaxy so close together in time.   view more (2007-06-27)

The VLT Measures the Shape of a Type Ia Supernova
First Polarimetric Detection of Explosion Asymmetry has Cosmological Implications [1] An international team of astronomers [2] has performed new and very detailed observations of a supernova in a distant galaxy with the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory (Chile). They show... view more (2003-08-05)

The case of the neutron star with a wayward wake
A long observation with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory revealed important new details of a neutron star that is spewing out a wake of high-energy particles as it races through space.   view more (2006-06-02)

Cassiopeia A - The colorful aftermath of a violent stellar death
A new image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope provides a detailed look at the tattered remains of a supernova explosion known as Cassiopeia A (Cas A). It is the youngest known remnant from a supernova explosion in the Milky Way.   view more (2006-08-30)

A Strange Supernova with a Gamma-Ray Burst
On April 25, the BeppoSAX satellite detected a Gamma-Ray Burst from the direction of the constellation Telescopium, deep in the southern sky. Although there is now general consensus that they originate in very distant galaxies, the underlying physical causes of these events that release great... view more (1998-10-15)

Shrinking giants, exploding dwarves
When white dwarf stars explode, they leave behind a rapidly expanding cloud of 'stardust' known as a Type Ia supernova. These exploding events, which shine billions of times brighter than our sun, are all presumed to be extremely similar, and thus have been used extensively as cosmological... view more (2007-08-28)

Discovery of most recent supernova in our galaxy
The most recent supernova in our Galaxy has been discovered by tracking the rapid expansion of its remains. This result, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and NRAO's Very Large Array (VLA), has implications for understanding how often supernovas explode in the Milky Way galaxy.   view more (2008-05-15)

Supernova remnants dance in the LMC
The Gemini South Multi-Object Spectograph (GMOS) recently captured a dramatic image of a vast cloud complex named DEM L316 located in the Large Magellanic Cloud.   view more (2008-01-11)

Superbubble of supernova remnants caught in act of forming
A superbubble in space, caught in the act of forming, can help scientists better understand the life and death of massive stars, say researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.   view more (2007-01-10)

Action Replay of Powerful Stellar Explosion
Astronomers have made the best ever determination of the power of a supernova explosion that was visible from Earth long ago. By observing the remnant of a supernova and a light echo from the initial outburst, they have established the validity of a powerful new method for studying supernovas.   view more (2008-03-24)

Supernovae-Cosmic Lighthouses
Supernovae stand out in the sky like cosmic lighthouses. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and at the National Astronomical Institute of Italy have now found a way to use these cosmic beacons to measure distances in space more accurately.   view more (2007-02-12)

Universe contains more calcium than expected
The universe contains one and a half times more calcium than previously assumed. This conclusion was drawn by astronomers of the SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, after observations with ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory.   view more (2007-02-07)

A star's death comes to light
Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, scientists have created a stunning new image of one of the youngest supernova remnants in the galaxy. This new view of the debris of an exploded star helps astronomers solve a long-standing mystery, with implications for understanding how a star's life can... view more (2007-01-10)

The Purple Rose of Virgo
ntil now NGC 5584 was just one galaxy among many others, located to the West of the Virgo Cluster. Known only as a number in galaxy surveys, its sheer beauty is now revealed in all its glory in a new VLT image. Since 1 March, this purple cosmic rose also holds the brightest stellar explosion of the... view more (2007-03-28)

Tycho's Remnant Provides Shocking Evidence for Cosmic Rays
Astronomers have found compelling evidence that a supernova shock wave has produced a large amount of cosmic rays, particles of mysterious origin that constantly bombard the Earth.   view more (2005-09-23)

NASA's Chandra sees brightest supernova ever
The brightest stellar explosion ever recorded may be a long-sought new type of supernova, according to observations by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ground-based optical telescopes.   view more (2007-05-08)

Stellar forensics with striking new image from Chandra
A spectacular new image shows how complex a star's afterlife can be. By studying the details of this image made from a long observation by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers can better understand how some stars die and disperse elements like oxygen into the next generation of stars and... view more (2007-10-24)

Supernova radioisotopes show sun was born in star cluster, scientists say
The death of a massive nearby star billions of years ago offers evidence the sun was born in a star cluster, say astronomers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.   view more (2006-10-05)

Possible Origin of Cosmic Rays Revealed with Gamma Rays
An international team of astronomers (including the UK) has produced the first ever image of an astronomical object using high energy gamma rays, helping to solve a 100 year old mystery - an origin of cosmic rays. Their research, published in the Journal Nature on November 4th, was carried out... view more (2004-11-02)

Supernova radiation simulated in Virtual Reality
To astrophysicists, the energy-charged x-ray radiation on the fringes of a supernova explosion has long been enigmatic. It hasn't been possible to explain how the electrons are able to accelerate to nearly the speed of light. Now scientists in England and in Linköping, Sweden, have hit upon a... view more (2001-12-20)

Scientists discover 'light echoes' of ancient supernovae
Astronomers have found "light echoes" from three ancient supernovae by detecting their faint, centuries-old light reflected in the clouds of interstellar dust.   view more (2005-12-23)

Chandra discovers cosmic cannonball
One of the fastest moving stars ever seen has been discovered with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This cosmic cannonball is challenging theories to explain its blistering speed.   view more (2007-11-29)

New Star Systems First of Their Kind
Researchers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced today in Astrophysical Journal Letters that they have discovered a faraway binary star system that could be the progenitor of a rare type of supernova.   view more (2008-04-02)

Supernova Imposter Goes Supernova
In a galaxy far, far away, a massive star suffered a nasty double whammy. On Oct. 20, 2004, Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki saw the star let loose an outburst so bright that it was initially mistaken for a supernova. The star survived, but for only two years. On Oct. 11, 2006,... view more (2007-04-05)

XMM-Newton reveals the origin of elements in galaxy clusters
Deep observations of two X-ray bright clusters of galaxies with ESA's XMM-Newton satellite allowed a group of international astronomers to measure their chemical composition with an unprecedented accuracy.   view more (2006-05-11)

NASA: Major Step Toward Knowing Origin of Cosmic Rays
Recent observations from NASA and Japanese X-ray observatories have helped clarify one of the long-standing mysteries in astronomy -- the origin of cosmic rays.   view more (2007-10-10)

Astronomers Unravel Mystery of Gamma Ray Bursts
The cause of gamma ray bursts, the most violent and explosive events in the Universe, has remained a mystery since they were first discovered in 1967. Now a team of scientists, led by astronomers from the University of Leicester, believes they have found an answer to the puzzle. Their research... view more (2002-04-04)

New Evidence Links Stellar Remains to Oldest Recorded Supernova
The new study shows that the supernova remnant RCW 86 is much younger than previously thought. As such, the formation of the remnant appears to coincide with a supernova observed by Chinese astronomers in 185 A.D. The study used data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space... view more (2007-01-05)

Largest, brightest supernova ever seen may be long-sought pair-instability supernova
An exploding star first observed last September is the largest and most luminous supernova ever seen, according to University of California, Berkeley, astronomers, and may be the first example of a type of massive exploding star rare today but probably common in the very early universe.   view more (2007-05-08)

Massive-star supernovae found to be major space dust factories
An unaccounted for source of space dust which spawns life in the universe has been identified by an international team of scientists.   view more (2006-06-09)

ESA`s X-ray space telescope proves supernova can cause mysterious gamma-ray bursts
Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions ever detected in the Universe. They are also one of the greatest mysteries of modern astronomy, since so far no clear evidence has existed to prove what causes them. Until now, there have been two `prime suspects` for what makes gamma-ray bursts,... view more (2002-04-04)

Two cosmic bursts upset tidy association between long gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
Two brilliant flashes of light from nearby galaxies are puzzling astronomers and could indicate that gamma-ray bursts, which signal the birth of a black hole, are more diverse than once thought.   view more (2006-12-21)

Texas A&M researchers examine Einstein's theories on the universe
Einstein's self-proclaimed "biggest blunder" - his postulation of a cosmological constant (a force that opposes gravity and keeps the universe from collapsing) - may not be such a blunder after all, according to the research of an international team of scientists that includes two Texas... view more (2007-11-28)

Multi-wavelength images help astronomers study star birth, death
In recent years, a number of ground-based optical and radio surveys of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds - Earth's nearest neighboring galaxies - have become available.   view more (2006-01-12)

High Energy Mystery lurks at the Galactic Centre
A mystery lurking at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy - an object radiating high-energy gamma rays - has been detected by an international team of astronomers. Their research, published today (September 22nd) in the Journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, was carried out using the High Energy... view more (2004-09-22)

Young supernova remnants not dusty enough, according to UC Berkeley astronomers
One of the youngest supernova remnants known, a glowing red ball of dust created by the explosion 1,000 years ago of a supermassive star in a nearby galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud, exhibits the same problem as exploding stars in our own galaxy: too little dust.   view more (2006-06-07)

Discovery of Giant X-ray Loop Hints at Cosmic Particle Accelerator
Astronomers have found a vast loop-like structure, 20 light years across, adjacent to the most massive star-forming region known in our galaxy. The loop, which was observed in X-ray wavelengths, is 15 times the size of the Arches Cluster, a star-forming region close to the centre of the Milky Way.... view more (2005-03-31)

Discovery of Giant X-ray Loop Hints at Cosmic Particle Accelerator
Astronomers have found a vast loop-like structure, 20 light years across, adjacent to the most massive star-forming region known in our galaxy.   view more (2005-04-01)

Integral identifies supernova rate for Milky Way
Using ESA's Integral observatory, an international team of researchers has been able to confirm the production of radioactive aluminium (Al 26) in massive stars and supernovae throughout our galaxy and determine the rate of supernovae-one of its key parameters.   view more (2006-01-09)

ESA's XMM-Newton makes the first measurement of a dead star's magnetism
Using the superior sensitivity of ESA's X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton, a team of European astronomers has made the first direct measurement of a neutron star's magnetic field. The results provide deep insights into the extreme physics of neutron stars and reveal a new mystery yet to be solved... view more (2003-06-11)

Supernova leaves behind mysterious object
Thanks to data from ESA's XMM-Newton satellite, a team of scientists taking a closer look at an object discovered over 25 years ago have found that it is like none other known in our galaxy.   view more (2006-07-10)

The Weirdest Type Ia Supernova Yet
A group of scientists affiliated with the SuperNova Legacy Survey (SNLS) have found startling evidence that there is more than one kind of Type Ia supernova, a class of exploding stars which until now has been regarded as essentially uniform in all important respects.   view more (2006-09-21)

Scientists find 'pinwheels' in Quintuplet cluster
Discovery of pinwheel-shaped dust spirals around two of the mysterious cocoon stars in the Quintuplet cluster tells scientists for the first time that they contain a duo of stars instead of just one.   view more (2006-08-21)

Astronomers discover new kind of black-hole explosion
Scientists have discovered what appears to be a new kind of cosmic explosion - a "hybrid gamma-ray burst" - which will be the subject of four articles to be published in the journal Nature on 21 December 2006.   view more (2006-12-21)

Milky Way's fastest pulsar is on its way out of the galaxy, astronomers find
The Milky Way's fastest observed pulsar is speeding out of the galaxy at more than 670 miles a second, propelled largely by a kick it received at its birth 2.5 million years ago.   view more (2006-02-16)

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