ESO’s New Technology Telescope has captured a striking photo of SN 2021afdx, a Type II supernova that occurred in the Cartwheel Galaxy.
This image, captured in December 2021 by ESO’s New Technology Telescope, shows SN 2021afdx (lower left corner of the right image) in the Cartwheel Galaxy. Image credit: ESO / Inserra et al. / Amram et al.
The Cartwheel Galaxy is a lenticular galaxy located around 500 million light-years away in the constellation of Sculptor.
Also known as ESO 350-40, IRAS 00352-3359 and LEDA 2248, it has a diameter of 150,000 light-years and a mass of about 3 billion solar masses.
The cartwheel shape of this galaxy is the result of a violent galactic collision.
“The Cartwheel Galaxy was once a normal spiral galaxy that underwent a head-on interaction with a smaller companion galaxy several million years ago, giving it its signature cartwheel appearance,” ESO astronomers said.
“But there are other curious things about this object,” they added.
“Something interesting is taking place in the lower left corner of the new image from ESO’s New Technology Telescope — a supernova.”
Dubbed SN 2021afdx, this catastrophic event is classified as a Type II supernova, which occurs when a massive star reaches the end of its evolution.
“Supernovae can cause a star to shine brighter than its entire host galaxy and can be visible to observers for months, or even years — a blink of an eye on astronomical timescales,” the researchers said.
“Supernovae are one of the reasons we say we are all made of stardust: they sprinkle the surrounding space with heavy elements forged by the progenitor star, which may end up being part of later generations of stars, the planets around them and life that may exist in those planets.”
“Detecting and studying these unpredictable events requires international collaboration.”
This image, taken in August 2014 by the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows the Cartwheel Galaxy before SN 2021afdx took place. Image credit: ESO / Inserra et al. / Amram et al.
SN 2021afdx was first spotted in November 2021 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey.
The event was then followed up by the advanced Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey for Transient Objects (ePESSTO+).
“ePESSTO+ is designed to study objects that are only in the night sky for very short periods of time, such as this supernova,” the scientists said.
“It does this by using the EFOSC2 and SOFI instruments on NTT, located at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.”
“EFOSC2 not only took this beautiful image, but also spectra that allowed us to identify this event as a Type II supernova.”
Source link: https://www.sci.news/astronomy/cartwheel-galaxy-sn-2021afdx-10599.html
