This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a
supernova in the constellation Gemini.
ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J.
Foley (UC Santa Cruz)
The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image
is a supernova-hosting galaxy located about 600 million light-years away in the
constellation Gemini. Hubble captured this image roughly two months after a
supernova named SN 2022aajn was discovered. The supernova is visible as a blue
dot at the center of the image, brightening the hazy body of the galaxy.
Other than the announcement of its
discovery in November 2022, SN 2022aajn has never been the subject of published
research. Why then would Hubble observe this supernova? SN 2022aajn is what’s
known as a Type Ia supernova, which results from the explosion of the core of a
dead star. Supernovae of this type help astronomers measure the distance to
faraway galaxies. This is possible because Type Ia supernovae have the same
intrinsic luminosity — no matter how bright they seem from Earth, they put out
the same amount of light as other Type Ia supernovae. By comparing the observed
brightness to the known intrinsic brightness, researchers can calculate the
distance to the supernova and its host galaxy.
This seemingly simple way of measuring distances is complicated by cosmic dust. The farther away a supernova is, the fainter and redder it will appear — but intergalactic dust can make a supernova appear fainter and redder as well. To understand this complication, researchers will use Hubble to survey a total of 100 Type Ia supernovae in seven wavelength bands from ultraviolet to near-infrared. This image combines data taken at four infrared wavelengths. Infrared light passes through dust more easily than visible or ultraviolet light. By comparing the brightness of the sampled supernovae across different wavelengths, researchers can disentangle the effects of dust and distance, helping to improve measurements of galaxies billions of light-years away.
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