Unique shape of star’s explosion revealed just a day after detection
www.eso.org
Swift observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) have revealed the explosive death of a star just as the blast was breaking through the star’s surface. For the first time, astronomers unveiled the shape of the explosion at its earliest, fleeting stage. This brief initial phase wouldn’t have been observable a day later and helps address a whole set of questions about how massive stars go supernova.

“For the first time, astronomers unveiled the shape of the explosion [ of SN 2024ggi ] at its earliest, fleeting stage. This brief initial phase wouldn’t have been observable a day later and helps address a whole set of questions about how massive stars go supernova.”

  • dbtng@eviltoast.orgEnglish
    1·
    19 days ago

    Da fuq? Ya, that’s a cartoon, not a picture.

    Here’s what they say about the actual pic.
    … supernova SN 2024ggi in the NGC 3621 galaxy. It was taken on 11 April 2024, just 26 hours after the initial detection of the supernova. … spectropolarimetry, provides crucial information about the shape of the explosion even though it appears as a single point as seen from Earth.

    And indeed. It’s a pic of a white dot.