Brightening Supernova Remnants
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Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Video imagery:
- Hubble observation of supernova 2018gv in galaxy NGC 2525: NASA, ESA, M. Kornmesser and M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble), and A. Riess (STScI/JHU) and the SH0ES team
- Composite image of M83 with time lapse video of two supernova remnants: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/AURA/STScI, Hubble Heritage Team; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/A. Jubett, L. Frattare and P. Edmonds
- Animation of flaring black hole X-ray nova: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab
- Composite image of M83: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/AURA/STScI
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[00:00:00.00] A collage of nebulas, stars and planets passes by. Text: News from the Universe.
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[00:00:12.43] Brightening supernova remnants. June 29, 2026. Inset windows show a glowing blue oval that gets brighter over time. Text: Astronomers took note when, instead of fading, multiple supernova remnants in galaxy M 83 showed dramatic changes in brightness across 14 years of data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Of 22 supernova remnants in the study, about half showed the peculiar brightening, indicating to astronomers this was not simply chance or error.
[00:00:47.70] June 29, 2026. Astronomers think the most likely explanation is that the brightening sources were once star pairs. One star exploded as a supernova and became a black hole or neutron star.
[00:00:59.46] Animated blue white light enguilfs a disc shaped object in space. Material from the surviving star was pulled onto the surface of the black hole or neutron star by gravity, becoming superheated and producing the bright, variable X-rays Chandra saw.
[00:01:19.91] While this idea is not new, seeing so many potential high-mass X-ray binaries associated with supernova remnants in a galaxy is unprecedented.
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[00:01:27.79] Swirling purple clouds of a nebula are dotted with stars.
[00:01:33.60] Why is this happening in galaxy M 83? The answer may be high rates of star formation - larger numbers of massive stars lead to more supernovas and these types of pairings.
[00:01:49.50] Astronomers are looking to other galaxies with high rates of star formation to confirm.
[00:01:58.65] This news was brought to you in part by the Chandra X ray center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.