Astronomers discover first supernova explosion of a Wolf-Rayet star

A Wolf-Rayet star and the nebula surrounding it captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
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Evolution of the volume occupied by the ejecta (left panels) and the shock top pole velocity (right panels). Panels (a) and (b), (c) and (d), (e) and (f) show the results of the calculations when the explosion occurs at Zoff = 0 pc, 1 pc, and 2 pc from th

Our arguments deal with the early evolution of Galactic globular clusters and show why only a few of the supernovae products were retained within globular clusters and only in the most massive cases (M>106 solar masses) while less massive clusters were not contaminated at all by supernovae. Here we show that supernova blast waves evolving in a steep density gradient undergo blowout and end up discharging their energy and metals into the medium surrounding the clusters. This inhibits the dispersal and the contamination of the gas left over from a first stellar generation. Only the ejecta from

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Upper panel: Example of a spectrum contained in the Fabry-Pérot data where we detect three pairs of emission peaks symmetrically spaced with the emission of the H ii region, which correspond to the presence of three expanding shells.Lower panel: Expansion

Using a specialized technique sensitive to the presence of expanding ionized gas, we have detected a set of three concentric expanding shells in an H ii region in the nearby spiral galaxy M33. The detection was done using Fabry-Pérot spectroscopy, which allows us to map the ionized gas emission line Hα with exceptional precision in the spatial and spectral coordinates. We also took long-slit spectra of colisionally excited emission lines, which showed that the shells are likely originated from supernova explosions. Using the flux and the kinematics we estimated the kinetic energy in the

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The galaxy we see in the centre is NGC 7674, also known as Markarian 533. This image, from the Hubble Space Telescope, was taken in 2002. The supernova explosion /SN 2011ee/ had not then taken place, so we are unable to identify the progenitor star. The g

By Natalia Ruiz Zelmanovitch There are many kinds of stars in the Universe that are generally classified according to their brightness and colour. The brighter a star is, the bigger it is, and this property is directly related to the mass and age of the star. The most massive stars rapidly consume all the fuel in their interior, and this means not only that their lives are shorter than those of less massive stars but also that their deaths are spectacular. When they reach their end, they explode as supernovae, providing us, in most cases, with an impressive display in the form of magnificent

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