This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the galaxy LEDA 857074. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley
This NASA/ESA Hubble
Space Telescope image features the galaxy LEDA 857074, located in the constellation
Eridanus. LEDA 857074 is a barred spiral galaxy, with partially broken spiral
arms. The image also captured a supernova, named SN 2022ADQZ, shining brightly
on the right side of the galaxy’s bar.
Several evolutionary paths can lead
to a supernova explosion. One is the death of a supermassive star. When a
supermassive star runs out of its hydrogen fuel, it begins a stage where it
fuses the remaining elements to heavier and heavier ones. These final fusion
reactions generate less and less outward force (radiation pressure) to balance
the star’s gravitational tug inward. As heavier elements form in the star’s
core, the core itself begins to fully collapse under its own gravity, and the
star’s outer layers blast away in a supernova explosion. Depending on the
star’s original mass, its core may collapse to nothing but neutrons, leaving
behind a neutron star, or its gravity may be so great that it collapses to a
black hole.
Astronomers detected supernova SN
2022ADQZ with an automated survey in late 2022. This discovery led them to look
at the supernova’s host galaxy, LEDA 857074, with Hubble in early 2023.
Hubble's sharp vision means that it
can see supernovae that are billions of light years away and difficult for
other telescopes to study. A supernova image from the ground usually blends in
with the image of its host galaxy, but Hubble can distinguish a supernova’s
light from its host galaxy’s, measuring the supernova directly.
Astronomers detect thousands of
supernovae annually, but the chance that they spot one in any particular galaxy
of the millions that are cataloged is slim. Thanks to this supernova, LEDA
857074 joins the ranks of other celestial objects with its own Hubble image.
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