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Related: About this forumHubble Solves Mystery on Source of Supernova in Nearby Galaxy
Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have solved a longstanding mystery on the type of star, or so-called progenitor, that caused a supernova in a nearby galaxy. The finding yields new observational data for pinpointing one of several scenarios that could trigger such outbursts.
Based on previous observations from ground-based telescopes, astronomers knew that a kind of supernova called a Type Ia created a remnant named SNR 0509-67.5, which lies 170,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy.
The type of system that leads to this kind of supernova explosion has long been a high importance problem with various proposed solutions but no decisive answer. All these solutions involve a white dwarf star that somehow increases in mass to the highest limit. Astronomers failed to find any companion star near the center of the remnant, and this rules out all but one solution, so the only remaining possibility is that this one Type Ia supernova came from a pair of white dwarfs in close orbit.
"We know that Hubble has the sensitivity necessary to detect the faintest white dwarf remnants that could have caused such explosions," said lead investigator Bradley Schaefer of Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge. "The logic here is the same as the famous quote from Sherlock Holmes: 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'"
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http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2012/06/full/
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Hubble Solves Mystery on Source of Supernova in Nearby Galaxy (Original Post)
n2doc
Jan 2012
OP
greiner3
(5,214 posts)1. "pair of white dwarfs"
I believe the PC term should be;
Twin Caucasian Little People.
Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)4. Political correctness
I think we've found the politically-correct African-American in the woodpile
Just as an aside, I know it's not my place as a person of average dimensions , but doesn't "little people" sound dreadfully condescending in a precious, "patting on the head" sort of way?
Ah hell, this is way off-topic in an otherwise interesting discussion. I've had too much Vodka. Ignore me! Carry on, as you were.
tclambert
(11,085 posts)2. Efficient Market economists say there's no such thing as bubbles.
Now swing the Hubble back and forth to search for the giant bubble wand.
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)3. That's the stuff you figure out while bored on a steamship
The Chandrasekhar limit is approximately 1.4 times the mass of the sun. Extraordinarily, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar discovered this as a 20-year-old student by combining the theories of stellar composition, relativity and quantum mechanics during a trip on a steamship from India to England.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/13-most-important-numbers-in-the-universe-chandrasekhar-limit#fbIndex11
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/13-most-important-numbers-in-the-universe-chandrasekhar-limit#fbIndex11