KEY POINTS

  • Astronomers detected a powerful supernova in 1987
  • The neutron star that caused the explosion was hiding within the supernova
  • NS 1987A is currently the youngest neutron star ever detected

Researchers have detected traces of the star that produced a powerful supernova event over 30 years ago. The researchers believe the stellar object could be the youngest neutron star or supernova remnant ever discovered.

In 1987, astronomers detected a bright supernova caused by a star’s explosion. Unfortunately, since they lacked the proper equipment and technology at the time to observe the supernova, they were not able to find the remains of the star that caused it.

After about 33 years, a new team of researchers looked into the supernova using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope network in Chile. Through their observations with ALMA, they came across a bright blob with a high heat signature hiding within the dust of the supernova.

According to their data, the mysterious blob measures about 15.5 miles wide with a temperature of around nine million degrees Fahrenheit. Due to its characteristics, the researchers believe that the blob could be the remnant of the star that triggered the supernova 33 years ago.

If the object used to be a star, then it would be classified as a neutron star, which is the remains of a stellar object that collapsed under the weight of its own gravity and produced a supernova explosion.

“In spite of the supreme complexity of a supernova explosion and the extreme conditions reigning in the interior of a neutron star, the detection of a warm blob of dust is a confirmation of several predictions,” Dany Page, an astrophysicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said in a statement.

Page led a new study conducted based on the observations of the ALMA telescope array. It was published in The Astronomical Journal.

At 33 years old, the neutron star from the supernova in 1987, which was named NS 1987A, could be the youngest cosmic object of its kind. According to the researchers, trailing behind NS 1987A as the next-youngest neutron star is Cassiopeia A, the supernova remnant of a powerful stellar explosion that occurred about 330 years ago.

“Models of cooling neutron stars within the minimal cooling paradigm readily fit both NS 1987A and Cas A, the next-youngest known neutron star,” the researchers wrote in the abstract of their study.

Supernova remnant
Supernova remnants are the debris from exploded stars. G292.0+1.8 is a rare type of supernova remnant observed to contain large amounts of oxygen. Because they are one of the primary sources of the heavy elements (that is, everything other than hydrogen and helium) necessary to form planets and people, these oxygen-rich supernova remnants are important to study. The X-ray image of G292+1.8 from Chandra shows a rapidly expanding, intricately structured field left behind by the shattered star. The image is colored red, green, teal and purple in X-rays ranging from the lowest to highest energy levels.Recently the first detection was made of iron debris from the exploded star. Authors constructed a map of this debris, along with that of silicon and sulphur, to understand more about the explosion. They found that these three elements are mainly located in the upper right of the remnant. This is in the opposite direction from the neutron star that was formed in the explosion, and was then kicked towards the lower left of the remnant. This suggests that the origin of this kick is gravitational and fluid forces from an asymmetric explosion. If more than half of the star’s debris is ejected in one direction, then the neutron star is kicked in the other direction so that momentum is conserved. This finding argues against the idea that the copious amounts of neutrinos formed in the supernova explosion were emitted in a lop-sided direction, imparting a kick to the neutron star. NASA/CXC/SAO
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