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The universe is an endless expanse of mystery, majesty and breathtaking spectacle. So why, in a few years, will the cosmos be broadcasting a “replay” of a supernova explosion that we already observed in 2016?
Known as the Supernova Requiem, the faint glow of a 10 billion year old explosion is expected to reappear in the sky around 2037 – even after the same light source has already smiled at NASA’s three-way Hubble Space Telescope. taken over in 2016.
The reason for this cosmic replay has nothing to do with the supernova itself, according to a study published on September 13 in the journal Nature astronomy suggests, but with the gigantic cluster of galaxies that the light of the nova must cross to reach Earth.
“Each time a light passes near a very massive object, such as a galaxy or a cluster of galaxies, the deformation of space-time which Einsteinthe general theory of relativity tells us that it is present for any mass, delays the movement of light around that mass, “said lead author of the study, Steve Rodney, assistant professor at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, said in a press release.
This phenomenon is called the gravitational lens. The effect occurs when a gravitationally massive object distorts or lenses the light of distant stars and galaxies behind it – sometimes magnify the light distant objects, and sometimes distorting it. In the case of Supernova Requiem, the large galaxy cluster MACS J0138 causes the light from the stellar explosion to brighten, multiply and split into several different images, apparently appearing at different points in the sky at different times, said Researchers.
The first time astronomers spotted Requiem in a Hubble image of the MACS galaxy cluster in 2016, the supernova appeared simultaneously in three different locations around the edge of the galaxy cluster. The three different images varied in brightness and color, suggesting they showed three different phases of the supernova as it darkened and cooled over time, the researchers said.
In a follow-up image of the cluster taken in 2019, all three light spots were completely gone, confirming that they were all mirror images of the same distant light source. Researchers have since learned that the light is coming from an ancient supernova located around 10 billion Light years Earth, which means that the star in question lived and died within the first 4 billion years after the big Bang.
But a closer look at the MACS cluster revealed that the Supernova Requiem magic show was not yet over; the light passing through the exact center of the cluster of galaxies is still being picked up by the intense gravity of the cluster, and it has not yet appeared from the Earth side.
In their new study, the researchers used a computer model to map the galaxy cluster black matter – the mysterious and invisible substance which constitutes the majority of the matter of the universe and serves as glue which binds the large galaxies between them. With this map, the team predicted the different routes that the light from Supernova Requiem might take through the galaxy cluster on its way to Earth, and how dark matter might influence its arrival.
The researchers calculated that light passing through the center of the cluster, where dark matter is most dense, should appear in the sky above Earth in 2037, within two years. (The supernova may also appear a fifth time, in 2042, but this light will be so dim that astronomers might not be able to see it at all, the team added).
This is an “extraordinarily long” delay between the first appearance of light and its last, Rodney said – the longest ever seen from a multiple-lens supernova.
Once the long-awaited nova reappears in the sky, astronomers will be able to measure the precise time difference between the four supernova images, giving them a better understanding of the gravitationally distorted path the light from the dying star must have traversed. Ultimately, this could give researchers more clues as to the nature of dark matter, the authors concluded. So sit back and don’t touch that dial; the reappearance of Supernova Requiem is a replay to watch.
Originally posted on Live Science.
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