In a world-first, astronomers at The Australian National University (ANU), working with NASA and an international team of researchers, have captured the first moments of a supernova – the explosive death of stars – in detail never-before-seen. NASA’s Kepler space telescope captured the data in 2017. The ANU researchers recorded the initial burst of light that is seen as the
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World-first look at earliest moments of supernova explosion
In a world-first, astronomers at The Australian National University (ANU), working with NASA and an international team of researchers, have captured the first moments of a supernova – the explosive death of stars.
The never-before-seen detail was captured using data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope collected in 2017.
The ANU researchers recorded the initial burst of light that is seen as the first shockwave travels through the star before it explodes.
PhD scholar Patrick Armstrong, who led the study, said researchers are particularly interested in how the brightness of the light changes over time prior to the explosion. This event, known as the “shock cooling curve”, provides clues as to what type of star caused the explosion.
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We Found A New Type Of Stellar Explosion That Could Explain A 13-Billion-Year-Old Mystery Of The Milky Way’s Elements
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Published 3 hours ago:
July 9, 2021 at 10:00 am
Until recently it was thought neutron star mergers were the only way heavy elements (heavier than Zinc) could be produced. These mergers involve the mashup of the remnants of two massive stars in a binary system.
But we know heavy elements were first produced not long after the Big Bang, when the universe was really young. Back then, not enough time had passed for neutron star mergers to have even occurred. Thus, another source was needed to explain the presence of early heavy elements in the Milky Way.
Ancient star death unlocks 13-billion-year space mystery
8 July 2021
No one s ever found this phenomenon before
In a world-first, astronomers from The Australian National University (ANU) have discovered evidence of a massive explosion that led to the destruction of a rapidly spinning, strongly-magnetized star.
The so-called magneto-rotational hypernova occurred around a billion years after the Big Bang and was 10-times more energetic than a supernova.
The breakthrough discovery, led by an international team of scientists, offers clues for why an unusually high concentration of metal elements were present in another ancient Milky Way star.
The star, SMSS J200322.54-114203.3, had higher amounts of zinc, uranium and europium, compared to the first stars in the universe which were predominantly made up of hydrogen and helium.
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ANU researchers win nation’s most prestigious funding award
The fate of galaxies, building health equity for all and making new materials from “crystal chemistry” will be the focus of three major research projects at The Australian National University (ANU) receiving more than $9.7 million in Federal Government funding.
Professor Naomi McClure-Griffiths, Professor Sharon Friel and Professor Yun Liu have all won prestigious Laureate Fellowships from the Australian Research Council – the nation’s top research funding award.
The three join 14 other Australian-based researchers sharing more than $53.7 million in funding. Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt congratulated all three ANU winners.
“ARC Laureate Fellowships are Australia’s most prestigious researching funding scheme, recognising the very best of the best,” he said.