Supernova SN 2005E Says Hello to the Universe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supernova SN 2005E shines bright on the edge of spiral galaxy NGC 1032

 

A supernova is one of the most spectacular and massive events astronomers journeying backward to the beginning of space and time view, and can often be billions of times as bright as Sol, or shine brighter than an entire galaxy. Take a journey to a supernova, like SN 2005E, which astronomers became aware of when it lite up the spiral galaxy NGC 1032 in 2005, and your view of life and the universe would change forever.

Supernova SN 2005E is shown in the halo of NGC 1032 (red arrow)

Astronomers had previously only viewed supernovae occurring in two ways during their Journey to the Beginning of Space and Time. In the first example, the massive core of a star collapses inward near the end of its life cycle, creating a shock wave that expels the star's outer layers into the cold darkness of space and time. In the second, a white dwarf star steals matter from a companion star, until it reaches 1.4 solar masses. At this point, the white dwarf star is unable to support anymore weight, according to natural law, and detonates in a titanic stellar explosion brighter than a galaxy.

A team of astronomers looking at the data obtained by space scientists studying supernova SN 2005E believe this supernova could represent a third, as yet unseen, path nature uses to create a supernova. This analysis of this team of scientists has determined that this supernova occurred in a region of space and time devoid of massive stars. They also determined that this supernova only ejected a small volume of stellar material (0.3 solar masses) and abnormally high levels of calcium and radioactive titanium into the universe.

Team member Alex Filipenko of the University of California, Berkeley, and team leaders Hagai Perets of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge and Avishay Gal-Yam of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, conclude supernova SN 2005E took place between a low-mass white dwarf star that was stealing helium from a companion star. They also believe the volume of calcium released during supernova SN 2005E was large enough that only a few similar supernovae would be sufficient per century to provide all of the calcium presently viewed in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Supernova SN 2005E Says Hello to the Universe