Researchers indicate that supernova remnants (SNR) are diffuse, expanding structures left behind by a cosmic explosion. They contain material from the former star that was destroyed, as well as interstellar material that was pushed aside by the shock wave.
Some of these cosmic structures shows strong emission of oxygen in visible light. Such complexes are very rarely detected by specialists. At the same time, the nature of such SNRs and their connection with individual supernovae is still not fully understood.
Supernova remnants very often take on unusual shapes and colors. For some astronomers, they are the “quintessence of space.” Here, the exceptional structures include W49B, W50, IC 443, the Cygnus Loop, SNP G292.0+1.8, and SN 1054.
Interestingly enough, supernowa SN 1054 was observed from Earth in 1054 by Chinese and Arab astronomers. The explosion was so powerful that it was visible during the day (for 23 days) and for 653 days it was visible at night. The brightness of the supernova was about four times greater than the brightness of Venus.
SNRs typically exist “only” for a few tens of thousands of years, which makes all known structures of this type relatively young compared to other astronomical objects.
Scientists Discover 307 Unique Supernova Tracessome of them show oxygen emission. As the experts explain: “We present a new method for detecting supernova remnants, using the capabilities of modern visible light integral field units, based on the shapes of emission lines.”
Oxygen emissions were detected in as many as 35 structures, while 7 of them had very high oxygen levels. It was also documented that most of the detected SNRs have their X-ray counterparts – they are close to the limit ultraintense X-ray sources (ULX).
The researchers claim that the total luminosity of ULXs is millions of times brighter than the Sun, and the luminosity in X-rays is up to a trillion times brighter than our star in this wavelength. Examples of ULXs include pulsaryi.e. a highly magnetized rotating neutron star.
In the next steps, astronomers plan to extend their new method to other nearby galaxies, which could reveal further secrets of the Universe.
The research results were published on a scientific platform arXiv.
Source: geekweek.interia.pl
