Explanation: How often do stars explode? By looking at external galaxies, astronomers can guess that these events, known as a supernovae, should occur about once every 30 years in a typical spiral galaxy like our MilkyWay. However, the obscuring gas and dust in the disk of our galaxy probably prevents us from seeing many galactic supernovae -- making observations of these events in our own galaxy relatively rare. In fact, in 1572, the revered Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe, witnessed one of the last to be seen. The remnant of this explosion is still visible today as the shockwave it generated continues to expand into the gas and dust between the stars.Above is an image of the X-rays emitted by this shockwave made by a telescope onboard the ROSAT spacecraft. The nebula is known as Tycho's Supernova Remnant.
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Of the Day
Publications with keywords: nebula - molecular cloud - supernova remnant - supernova
Publications with words: nebula - molecular cloud - supernova remnant - supernova
See also:
- The Dark Seahorse of Cepheus
- APOD: 2024 September 18 Á The Mermaid Nebula Supernova Remnant
- APOD: 2024 August 19 Á IC 5146: The Cocoon Nebula
- APOD: 2024 June 25 Á The Dark Doodad Nebula
- Lynds Dark Nebula 1251
- APOD: 2024 June 19 Á NGC 6188: Dragons of Ara
- APOD: 2024 June 11 Á Colorful Stars and Clouds near Rho Ophiuchi