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Astronomers catch a magnetar being born inside a supernova via a rapid brightness chirp
science4 hours ago

Astronomers catch a magnetar being born inside a supernova via a rapid brightness chirp

Astronomers observed a distinctive four-peaked, accelerating ‘chirp’ in the light from supernova SN 2024afav, interpreted as the birth of a magnetar—an ultra-mense, highly magnetized neutron star—hidden in the exploding star. The signal fits a model where material falling back formed a tilted accretion disk around the magnetar, whose frame-dragging (Lense–Thirring precession) causes the disk to wobble and periodically modulate the supernova’s brightness. From this, the magnetar is inferred to rotate about 4.2 milliseconds and possess a magnetic field about 300 trillion times stronger than Earth's. While this provides strong evidence for magnetars powering some superluminous supernovae, it may not apply to all such events, and future surveys like the Rubin Observatory will seek more examples to map how often magnetars form in stellar explosions.

via Space Daily|
#chirp#lense-thirring-precession#magnetar
Silent Messengers: Neutrinos Illuminate Hidden Galactic Explosions
space2 days ago

Silent Messengers: Neutrinos Illuminate Hidden Galactic Explosions

Avi Loeb explains that neutrinos from Galactic supernovae penetrate interstellar dust and reveal explosions that optical observations often miss. The 1987 SN 1987A produced 24 neutrinos detected by Kamiokande-II, IMB, and Baksan, enabling estimates of the explosion’s energy and the newborn neutron star’s properties. Today’s and forthcoming detectors—Super-Kamiokande, JUNO, IceCube, Hyper-Kamiokande, and DUNE—could observe thousands to tens of thousands of events from a Milky Way supernova, allowing measurements of neutrino masses and oscillations as well as the neutron star’s mass, radius, and binding energy. Webb’s 2022 observations of a neutron-star signature in SN 1987A underscore the potential of neutrino astronomy for probing fundamental physics and stellar remnants.

via Avi Loeb – Medium|
#astrophysics#detectors#neutrinos
Feeble Radio Whispers Reveal the Blue Eye Pulsar After Decades of Silence
space5 days ago

Feeble Radio Whispers Reveal the Blue Eye Pulsar After Decades of Silence

Astronomers using the MeerKAT telescope detected faint radio pulses from the central compact object 1E 1207.4-5209—the Blue Eye Pulsar—located about 10,000 light-years away in the Milky Way. The neutron star emits radio waves every 424 milliseconds, matching its rotation and suggesting that some radio-quiet central compact objects can produce detectable radio emission under certain magnetic-field conditions, possibly triggered by a 2015 spin glitch. The finding implies a larger population of ultra-faint pulsars in the galaxy and could help explain missing pulsars in some supernova remnants, with the study published in Nature Astronomy on June 25.

via Space|
#meerkat#neutron-star#pulsars
Six Explosions Later, a Star Defies Explanation
astronomy21 days ago

Six Explosions Later, a Star Defies Explanation

A star designated iPTF14hls, first seen in 2014 as a supernova, has since exploded at least six times, with its brightness peaking multiple times over about 1,000 days while staying at a steady 5,000–6,000 K. Archival data reveal a 1954 explosion at the same location, and the star—at least 50 solar masses—appears to eject material far more slowly than typical supernovae. Several ideas (antimatter burning, pulsational pair-instability, magnetar with evolving fields) fail to explain all features. The star faded into a remnant nebula by 2018, and the Hubble Space Telescope continues to monitor the site.

via Boing Boing|
#anomaly#astronomy#iptf14hls
Ancient supernova debris spotted near the Milky Way’s black hole
space25 days ago

Ancient supernova debris spotted near the Milky Way’s black hole

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, with help from XMM-Newton, detected a bright X-ray blob near the Milky Way’s center—likely the wreckage of a supernova that exploded about 1,700 years ago and is the closest such debris to Sagittarius A*. The debris lies in a bubble of ionized gas dubbed Sagittarius C and is seen moving at roughly 2 million mph. While an SN origin is favored, some uncertainty remains whether the emission could be from gas heated by nearby massive stars. The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, highlights how such debris contributes to chemical enrichment and the birth of future stars and planets.

via Space|
#milky-way-center#sagittarius-a#sagittarius-c
SN 1987A: Neutrinos Arrived First, Lighting Up a New Field
space1 month ago

SN 1987A: Neutrinos Arrived First, Lighting Up a New Field

In SN 1987A, the exploding star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, detectors buried underground recorded about two dozen neutrinos arriving roughly three hours before the first photons reached Earth. The burst, observed by Kamiokande-II, IMB, and Baksan (with a contested earlier Mont Blanc signal), confirmed that core-collapse supernovae emit most of their energy as neutrinos and marked the birth of neutrino astronomy. The optical light lag varied by a couple of hours depending on when light is counted, and later Webb telescope work provided strong evidence for a newly formed neutron star at the remnant. For a future Galactic supernova, detectors would collect thousands of neutrino events, underscoring SN 1987A as a foundational multi-messenger milestone.

via Space Daily|
#astronomy#core-collapse#neutrinos
Magnetar-powered gamma glow lights up a distant supernova
space1 month ago

Magnetar-powered gamma glow lights up a distant supernova

NASA’s Fermi detected gamma rays from the luminous core-collapse supernova SN 2017egm (NGC 3191, about 440 million light-years away), supporting the idea that a newborn magnetar—an ultra‑magnetized neutron star—powers the explosion. A magnetar wind nebula and related particle interactions could boost gamma-ray production and reprocess energy into visible light, explaining the unusually bright display; gamma rays begin to leak out as debris expands, with the early light curve matching models though late-time fading remains puzzling. The study also notes the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array could detect similar events up to ~500 million light-years, advancing understanding of magnetar engines. The work appeared in Astronomy & Astrophysics on May 20, 2026.

via Space|
#gamma-rays#magnetar#neutron-star
Antarctic ice captures stardust from ancient supernovas, revealing our solar system’s past
space1 month ago

Antarctic ice captures stardust from ancient supernovas, revealing our solar system’s past

Scientists analyzed 40,000–80,000-year-old Antarctic ice and found iron-60, a radioactive byproduct of ancient supernovas, embedded in stardust likely carried through the Local Interstellar Cloud before reaching Earth. The results suggest interstellar dust from stellar explosions can penetrate the solar system, linking our solar neighborhood’s history to past supernovae and offering clues about how interstellar material interacts with our planet.

via Space|
#antarctic-ice#iron-60#local-interstellar-cloud
Earth Plows Through Ancient Supernova Debris Preserved in Antarctic Ice
space-science1 month ago

Earth Plows Through Ancient Supernova Debris Preserved in Antarctic Ice

A new study detects iron-60 in Antarctic ice aged 40,000–80,000 years, tying Earth’s passage through the Local Interstellar Cloud to debris from a past supernova. Using accelerator mass spectrometry on hundreds of kilograms of ice and corroborating isotopes, researchers show the cloud around the Solar System contains material from an ancient stellar explosion, with the iron-60 signal varying over tens of thousands of years and supporting the idea that our cosmic neighborhood records such events.

via SciTechDaily|
#antarctic-ice#interstellar-medium#iron-60
Giant Star WOH G64 Flashes Signs of Impending Explosion
science2 months ago

Giant Star WOH G64 Flashes Signs of Impending Explosion

Astronomers studying WOH G64, among the universe's largest stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, report dramatic, rapid changes over decades: its surface temperature has climbed more than 1,000°C and its color shifted from red to yellow, with unusual dimming episodes in 2011 and 2025. Such behavior is unprecedented for a star of this size and may mark the final stages of its life, offering a rare, real-time glimpse into how massive stars end their lives and seed the cosmos with heavy elements.

via BBC Sky at Night Magazine|
#large-magellanic-cloud#massive-stars#red-supergiant
Giant Star WOH G64 Shifts Hue, Hinting at Impending Supernova
space-and-astronomy2 months ago

Giant Star WOH G64 Shifts Hue, Hinting at Impending Supernova

Astronomers say the star WOH G64 in the Large Magellanic Cloud has transformed from a red supergiant into a yellow hypergiant (a change tied to observations starting in 2014), is shedding its outer layers, and is heating up—signs that it may be nearing its explosive end. At about 1,500 solar radii, it remains one of the universe’s largest stars, is younger than 5 million years, and new research in Nature Astronomy argues the star could be heading toward a supernova in its relatively short life arc.

via ZME Science|
#astronomy#red-supergiant#space
Giant Star WOH G64 Shifts to Yellow Hypergiant, Foreshadowing a Supernova
science2 months ago

Giant Star WOH G64 Shifts to Yellow Hypergiant, Foreshadowing a Supernova

Astronomers report that the star WOH G64 in the Large Magellanic Cloud has transitioned from a red supergiant to a yellow hypergiant, with ongoing mass loss and heating—a potential sign it is nearing a supernova. The change may result from interactions with a companion or a pre-supernova wind, representing a short-lived but crucial phase in the evolution of a very massive star.

via SciTechDaily|
#red-supergiant#science#stellar-evolution