SubscribeThanks to images obtained over the past nine years by the Hubble Space Telescope, UC Berkeley astronomers were able to narrow down the identity of the companion star to a supernova first observed in August. It was not a bright red giant or helium star, but probably a more modest star like the sun, a subgiant or even a white dwarf.
Tag: red giant
Closing in on cosmic mystery surrounding supernovas
December 15, 2011:
Quick response helps ID star system preceding supernova
August 23, 2012:
When UC Berkeley astronomers Alex Filippenko and Joshua Bloom heard about a newly exploded star, they swiveled the Keck Telescope into position to take a picture. This data helped Berkeley Lab’s Peter Nugent determine that the “progenitor” star had a companion red giant and had undergone more than one previous nova explosion before it went supernova.
