New data from NASA\u2019s Chandra\u00a0X-ray Observatory\u00a0has provided stringent constraints on the environment around one of\u00a0the closest supernovas discovered in decades. The Chandra results\u00a0provide\u00a0insight into possible cause of the explosion, as described in\u00a0our\u00a0press release.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tOn\u00a0January 21, 2014, astronomers witnessed a supernova soon after it exploded in\u00a0the Messier 82, or M82, galaxy. Telescopes across the globe and in space turned\u00a0their attention to study this\u00a0newly exploded star, including Chandra.\u00a0\u00a0Astronomers determined\u00a0that\u00a0this\u00a0supernova, dubbed SN 2014J, belongs to a class of explosions called \u201cType Ia\u201d\u00a0supernovas. These supernovas are\u00a0used as cosmic distance-markers and played a\u00a0key role in the discovery of the Universe\u2019s accelerated expansion, which has\u00a0been attributed to the effects of dark energy.\u00a0\u00a0Scientists think that all\u00a0Type Ia supernovas involve the detonation of a\u00a0white dwarf. One important question is whether the fuse on the explosion is lit\u00a0when the white dwarf pulls too much material from a companion star\u00a0like the\u00a0Sun, or when two white dwarf stars merge.\u00a0
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tThis\u00a0image contains Chandra data,\u00a0where low, medium, and high-energy X-rays are\u00a0red, green, and blue respectively. The boxes in the bottom of the image show\u00a0close-up views of\u00a0the region\u00a0around the supernova in\u00a0data taken prior to the explosion\u00a0(left),\u00a0as well as data gathered\u00a0on February 3, 2014,\u00a0after the\u00a0supernova went off\u00a0(right).\u00a0\u00a0The lack\u00a0\u00a0of the detection\u00a0of X-rays\u00a0detected\u00a0by\u00a0Chandra is an important clue for astronomers looking for the\u00a0exact mechanism of how this star exploded.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tThe\u00a0non-detection of X-rays reveals that the region around the site of the\u00a0supernova explosion is relatively devoid of material.\u00a0This finding is a\u00a0critical clue to the origin of the explosion.\u00a0Astronomers expect\u00a0that if a white dwarf exploded because it had been steadily collecting matter\u00a0from a companion star prior to exploding, the mass transfer process would not\u00a0be 100% efficient,\u00a0and the white dwarf would be immersed in a cloud of gas.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tIf\u00a0a significant amount of material were surrounding the doomed star, the blast\u00a0wave generated by the supernova would have struck it by the time of the Chandra\u00a0observation, producing a bright X-ray source. Since they do not detect any\u00a0X-rays, the researchers determined that the region around SN 2014J is\u00a0exceptionally clean.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tA\u00a0viable candidate for the cause of SN 2014J must explain the relatively gas-free\u00a0environment around the star prior to the explosion.\u00a0\u00a0One possibility is the merger of two white\u00a0dwarf stars, in\u00a0which case there might have been little mass transfer and\u00a0pollution of the environment before the explosion. Another is that several\u00a0smaller eruptions on the surface of the white dwarf cleared the\u00a0region prior to\u00a0the supernova.\u00a0\u00a0Further observations a\u00a0few hundred days after the explosion could shed light on the amount of gas in a\u00a0larger volume, and help decide between these and other\u00a0scenarios.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tA\u00a0paper describing these results was published in the July 20 issue of The\u00a0Astrophysical Journal and is\u00a0available online.\u00a0The first author is\u00a0Raffaella Margutti\u00a0from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center\u00a0for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, MA,\u00a0and the co-authors are Jerod Parrent (CfA), Atish Kamble\u00a0(CfA), Alicia Soderberg (CfA), Ryan Foley (University of Illinois at\u00a0Urbana-Champaign),\u00a0Dan\u00a0Milisavljevic (CfA), Maria Drout\u00a0(CfA), and Robert Kirshner (CfA).
\nImage Credit: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/R.Margutti et al
\n\u203a View large image
\n\t\u203a Chandra on Flickr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New data from NASA\u2019s Chandra\u00a0X-ray Observatory\u00a0has provided stringent constraints on the environment around one of\u00a0the closest supernovas discovered in decades. The Chandra results\u00a0provide\u00a0insight into possible cause of the explosion, as described in\u00a0our\u00a0press release.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tOn\u00a0January 21, 2014, astronomers witnessed a supernova soon after it exploded in\u00a0the Messier 82, or M82, galaxy. Telescopes across the globe and in space turned\u00a0their attention to study this\u00a0newly exploded star, including Chandra.\u00a0\u00a0Astronomers determined\u00a0that\u00a0this\u00a0supernova, dubbed SN 2014J, belongs to a class of explosions called \u201cType Ia\u201d\u00a0supernovas. These supernovas are\u00a0used as cosmic distance-markers and played a\u00a0key role in the discovery of the Universe\u2019s accelerated expansion, which has\u00a0been attributed to the effects of dark energy.\u00a0\u00a0Scientists think that all\u00a0Type Ia supernovas involve the detonation of a\u00a0white dwarf. One important question is whether the fuse on the explosion is lit\u00a0when the white dwarf pulls too much material from a companion star\u00a0like the\u00a0Sun, or when two white dwarf stars merge.\u00a0
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tThis\u00a0image contains Chandra data,\u00a0where low, medium, and high-energy X-rays are\u00a0red, green, and blue respectively. The boxes in the bottom of the image show\u00a0close-up views of\u00a0the region\u00a0around the supernova in\u00a0data taken prior to the explosion\u00a0(left),\u00a0as well as data gathered\u00a0on February 3, 2014,\u00a0after the\u00a0supernova went off\u00a0(right).\u00a0\u00a0The lack\u00a0\u00a0of the detection\u00a0of X-rays\u00a0detected\u00a0by\u00a0Chandra is an important clue for astronomers looking for the\u00a0exact mechanism of how this star exploded.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tThe\u00a0non-detection of X-rays reveals that the region around the site of the\u00a0supernova explosion is relatively devoid of material.\u00a0This finding is a\u00a0critical clue to the origin of the explosion.\u00a0Astronomers expect\u00a0that if a white dwarf exploded because it had been steadily collecting matter\u00a0from a companion star prior to exploding, the mass transfer process would not\u00a0be 100% efficient,\u00a0and the white dwarf would be immersed in a cloud of gas.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tIf\u00a0a significant amount of material were surrounding the doomed star, the blast\u00a0wave generated by the supernova would have struck it by the time of the Chandra\u00a0observation, producing a bright X-ray source. Since they do not detect any\u00a0X-rays, the researchers determined that the region around SN 2014J is\u00a0exceptionally clean.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tA\u00a0viable candidate for the cause of SN 2014J must explain the relatively gas-free\u00a0environment around the star prior to the explosion.\u00a0\u00a0One possibility is the merger of two white\u00a0dwarf stars, in\u00a0which case there might have been little mass transfer and\u00a0pollution of the environment before the explosion. Another is that several\u00a0smaller eruptions on the surface of the white dwarf cleared the\u00a0region prior to\u00a0the supernova.\u00a0\u00a0Further observations a\u00a0few hundred days after the explosion could shed light on the amount of gas in a\u00a0larger volume, and help decide between these and other\u00a0scenarios.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tA\u00a0paper describing these results was published in the July 20 issue of The\u00a0Astrophysical Journal and is\u00a0available online.\u00a0The first author is\u00a0Raffaella Margutti\u00a0from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center\u00a0for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, MA,\u00a0and the co-authors are Jerod Parrent (CfA), Atish Kamble\u00a0(CfA), Alicia Soderberg (CfA), Ryan Foley (University of Illinois at\u00a0Urbana-Champaign),\u00a0Dan\u00a0Milisavljevic (CfA), Maria Drout\u00a0(CfA), and Robert Kirshner (CfA).
\nImage Credit: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/R.Margutti et al
\n\u203a View large image
\n\t\u203a Chandra on Flickr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nasa-i-o-d"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=220804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/612598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=220804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=220804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=220804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}