16 ms·

Astronomers Witness a Dying Star Reach Its Explosive End

132 points by worldvoyageur 5y ago

gammarator 5y ago
Full paper is here: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac3f3a https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac3f3a (AAS journals are now completely open access, so no paywall.)
- wrycoder 5y ago
  Unlike the IEEE.
BluSyn 5y ago
Website got hugged to death? Archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220109194733/https://keckobservatory.org/dying-star/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220109194733/https://keckobser...
mungoman2 5y ago
If you want to get excited by this kind of thing, I can really recommend Big Bang by Simon Singh. It's a great intro and made me go from "meh" to "wow" about cosmological things.
- booleandilemma 5y ago
  The Code Book by him is also very good. I guarantee it’ll have you implementing your own classical ciphers :)
marcodiego 5y ago
Where are the actual images? The animation https://player.vimeo.com/video/658748207?h=ce918acdf2&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&speed=0&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479 https://player.vimeo.com/video/658748207?h=ce918acdf2&title=... is beautiful, but it is not what I came there for.
- hutzlibu 5y ago
  They probably do not look so stunning yet and are more of a scientific value.
- LegitShady 5y ago
  https://web.archive.org/web/20220107114736/https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac3f3a https://web.archive.org/web/20220107114736/https://iopscienc... images available with the actual paper here https://web.archive.org/web/20220107115445im_/https://cfn-live-content-bucket-iop-org.s3.amazonaws.com/journals/0004-637X/924/1/15/revision1/apjac3f3af2_lr.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAYDKQL6LTV7YY2HIK&Expires=1642158618&Signature=ur9Ffq%2F7FBcggJ20CbnnxL70V%2BI%3D https://web.archive.org/web/20220107115445im_/https://cfn-li... pre explosion images
  - awb 5y ago
    Thanks! To OC: Skimming the paper, I think a lot of the “witnessing” is in the form of numerical data.
    - sharkweek 5y ago
      Two of my cousins (twins, as an anecdotal fun fact) are both astronomers. I remember one of them explaining to me how little of their job is actually looking at badass pictures of space objects but instead staring at numbers representing badass happenings in space. The fun part to me is when they explain what they’re seeing in the numbers in layperson’s terms. One of them published on evidence of “star theft” when two galaxies pass near/through one another, how the composition of some stars signal they once belonged to a different galaxy than their current home. Fascinating to think about cosmic events as large as two galaxies passing near/through one another.
      - dekhn 5y ago
        When astronomers first detected extrasolar planets it was "just a periodic dip in the light intensity of the sun" (the graphs look funny because the absolute amount of dip is tiny compared to the full output of the star) but now they're starting to be able to do direct imaging. I like direct imaging and other techniques a lot more than ones that are purely numerical, or require reconstruction.
freeslave 5y ago
If the star is 120 million light-years away, does that mean this explosion actually happened 120 million years ago?
- pc86 5y ago
  Yes
  - ehsankia 5y ago
    Would the fact that space between here and there is stretching during that time impact that?
    - raegis 5y ago
      The light has traveled for 120 million years, but the galaxy today is further away because the universe has been expanding the entire time. So the distance between the position of the object 120 million years ago, and Earth today, is 120 million light years. I think :)
      - sailingparrot 5y ago
        It's not just objects getting more and more distant with time, it's spacetime itself stretching at every point. So, during it's 120M years journey, the photon had to travel the initial distance + new distance added by expansion rate. So when the photons we are receiving now left that star, that star was closer than 120M light years away. And that star is now further than 120M light years.
  - shpx 5y ago
    , assuming that the speed of light is the same in both directions, which we can’t prove. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-way_speed_of_light https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-way_speed_of_light https://youtu.be/pTn6Ewhb27k https://youtu.be/pTn6Ewhb27k
- asxd 5y ago
  Always blows my mind that because light travels through space, you can literally see into the past. Imagine, way way down the line, eventually meeting a civilization from a far away planet, and they could potentially show you actual photographs of Pangaea.
boulos 5y ago
It's too bad the rendering didn't include timestamps. For example, is that a year of data in 25s of rendering, or the last few months?
- tablespoon 5y ago
  > It's too bad the rendering didn't include timestamps. For example, is that a year of data in 25s of rendering, or the last few months? Per the OP: > However, this novel detection of bright radiation coming from a red supergiant in the final year before exploding suggests that at least some of these stars must undergo significant changes in their internal structure that then results in the tumultuous ejection of gas moments before they collapse. I think this is probably the period from 5s to 12s in the animation.
  - boulos 5y ago
    Yes, probably but it'd be nice to know. Even the start of the rendering though seems to have some gas being ejected that I was curious about ("Is that the start of the process at 1 year out?"). I dunno, maybe an improved caption would be enough.
xqcgrek2 5y ago
Clickbait has infected astronomy it seems
- wumpus 5y ago
  It can be a challenge working with in-house PR people, that's for sure. It's basically impossible to hire science communications people. A friend of mine has a science degree, is a best-selling NYT author for science-related humor books, and applied to a Science Communication program at UC Santa Cruz. They rejected her because their intent was to take journalists and teach them science, and not take scientists and teach them journalism.
User23 5y ago
> observed the red supergiant during its last 130 days leading up to its deadly detonation. I get that it’s a metaphor, but I can’t help thinking deadly to what?
- danparsonson 5y ago
  Itself :-)
- bell-cot 5y ago
  Itself. Anything in its star system. Any biospheres or sub-FTL civilizations within dozens of light-years. Quite a few idiots, who were trying to get selfies for social media. Probably some stubborn old locals, who refused to evacuate. ("My family has lived in this star system since before ... and you young busybodies are always telling us how it's gonna explode any time now ... and trying to force us out of our own homes ... and when has anything actually exploded after you damn busybodies claimed ... just trying to steal our homes, that's what you're doing ... ":)

132 points by worldvoyageur 5y ago

Full paper is here: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac3f3a https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac3f3a (AAS journals are now completely open access, so no paywall.)

wrycoder 5y ago
Unlike the IEEE.

BluSyn 5y ago

Website got hugged to death? Archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220109194733/https://keckobservatory.org/dying-star/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220109194733/https://keckobser...

mungoman2 5y ago

If you want to get excited by this kind of thing, I can really recommend Big Bang by Simon Singh. It's a great intro and made me go from "meh" to "wow" about cosmological things.

booleandilemma 5y ago
The Code Book by him is also very good. I guarantee it’ll have you implementing your own classical ciphers :)

marcodiego 5y ago

Where are the actual images? The animation https://player.vimeo.com/video/658748207?h=ce918acdf2&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&speed=0&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479 https://player.vimeo.com/video/658748207?h=ce918acdf2&title=... is beautiful, but it is not what I came there for.

hutzlibu 5y ago
They probably do not look so stunning yet and are more of a scientific value.
LegitShady 5y ago
https://web.archive.org/web/20220107114736/https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac3f3a https://web.archive.org/web/20220107114736/https://iopscienc... images available with the actual paper here https://web.archive.org/web/20220107115445im_/https://cfn-live-content-bucket-iop-org.s3.amazonaws.com/journals/0004-637X/924/1/15/revision1/apjac3f3af2_lr.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAYDKQL6LTV7YY2HIK&Expires=1642158618&Signature=ur9Ffq%2F7FBcggJ20CbnnxL70V%2BI%3D https://web.archive.org/web/20220107115445im_/https://cfn-li... pre explosion images
- awb 5y ago
  Thanks! To OC: Skimming the paper, I think a lot of the “witnessing” is in the form of numerical data.
  - sharkweek 5y ago
    Two of my cousins (twins, as an anecdotal fun fact) are both astronomers. I remember one of them explaining to me how little of their job is actually looking at badass pictures of space objects but instead staring at numbers representing badass happenings in space. The fun part to me is when they explain what they’re seeing in the numbers in layperson’s terms. One of them published on evidence of “star theft” when two galaxies pass near/through one another, how the composition of some stars signal they once belonged to a different galaxy than their current home. Fascinating to think about cosmic events as large as two galaxies passing near/through one another.
    - dekhn 5y ago
      When astronomers first detected extrasolar planets it was "just a periodic dip in the light intensity of the sun" (the graphs look funny because the absolute amount of dip is tiny compared to the full output of the star) but now they're starting to be able to do direct imaging. I like direct imaging and other techniques a lot more than ones that are purely numerical, or require reconstruction.

freeslave 5y ago

If the star is 120 million light-years away, does that mean this explosion actually happened 120 million years ago?

pc86 5y ago
Yes
- ehsankia 5y ago
  Would the fact that space between here and there is stretching during that time impact that?
  - raegis 5y ago
    The light has traveled for 120 million years, but the galaxy today is further away because the universe has been expanding the entire time. So the distance between the position of the object 120 million years ago, and Earth today, is 120 million light years. I think :)
    - sailingparrot 5y ago
      It's not just objects getting more and more distant with time, it's spacetime itself stretching at every point. So, during it's 120M years journey, the photon had to travel the initial distance + new distance added by expansion rate. So when the photons we are receiving now left that star, that star was closer than 120M light years away. And that star is now further than 120M light years.
- shpx 5y ago
  , assuming that the speed of light is the same in both directions, which we can’t prove. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-way_speed_of_light https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-way_speed_of_light https://youtu.be/pTn6Ewhb27k https://youtu.be/pTn6Ewhb27k
asxd 5y ago
Always blows my mind that because light travels through space, you can literally see into the past. Imagine, way way down the line, eventually meeting a civilization from a far away planet, and they could potentially show you actual photographs of Pangaea.

boulos 5y ago

It's too bad the rendering didn't include timestamps. For example, is that a year of data in 25s of rendering, or the last few months?

tablespoon 5y ago
> It's too bad the rendering didn't include timestamps. For example, is that a year of data in 25s of rendering, or the last few months? Per the OP: > However, this novel detection of bright radiation coming from a red supergiant in the final year before exploding suggests that at least some of these stars must undergo significant changes in their internal structure that then results in the tumultuous ejection of gas moments before they collapse. I think this is probably the period from 5s to 12s in the animation.
- boulos 5y ago
  Yes, probably but it'd be nice to know. Even the start of the rendering though seems to have some gas being ejected that I was curious about ("Is that the start of the process at 1 year out?"). I dunno, maybe an improved caption would be enough.

xqcgrek2 5y ago

Clickbait has infected astronomy it seems

wumpus 5y ago
It can be a challenge working with in-house PR people, that's for sure. It's basically impossible to hire science communications people. A friend of mine has a science degree, is a best-selling NYT author for science-related humor books, and applied to a Science Communication program at UC Santa Cruz. They rejected her because their intent was to take journalists and teach them science, and not take scientists and teach them journalism.

User23 5y ago

> observed the red supergiant during its last 130 days leading up to its deadly detonation. I get that it’s a metaphor, but I can’t help thinking deadly to what?

danparsonson 5y ago
Itself :-)
bell-cot 5y ago
Itself. Anything in its star system. Any biospheres or sub-FTL civilizations within dozens of light-years. Quite a few idiots, who were trying to get selfies for social media. Probably some stubborn old locals, who refused to evacuate. ("My family has lived in this star system since before ... and you young busybodies are always telling us how it's gonna explode any time now ... and trying to force us out of our own homes ... and when has anything actually exploded after you damn busybodies claimed ... just trying to steal our homes, that's what you're doing ... ":)