* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: SN Primo

Blobrana · L

SN Primo is the farthest Type Ia supernova with its distance confirmed through spectroscopic observations. In these types of observations, a spectrum splits the light from a supernova into its constituent colors. By analyzing those colors, astronomers can confirm its distance by measuring how much the supernova's light has been stretched, or red-shifted, into near-infrared wavelengths because of the expansion of the universe.
The supernova was discovered as part of a three-year Hubble program to survey faraway Type Ia supernovae, opening a new distance realm for searching for this special class of stellar explosion. The remote supernovae will help astronomers determine whether the exploding stars remain dependable cosmic yardsticks across vast distances of space in an epoch when the cosmos was only one-third its current age of 13.7 billion years.
Source

Blobrana · L

NASA's Hubble Breaks New Ground with Distant Supernova Discovery

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected a distant Type Ia supernova, the farthest stellar explosion that can be used to measure the expansion rate of the universe. The supernova is the remnant of a star that exploded 9 billion years ago. The sighting is the first finding of an ambitious survey that will help astronomers place better constraints on the nature of dark energy: a mysterious repulsive force that is causing the universe to fly apart ever faster. The object, nicknamed SN Primo, belongs to a special class called Type Ia supernovae, which are bright beacons used as distance markers for studying the expansion rate of the universe.
SN Primo is the farthest Type Ia supernova whose distance has been confirmed through spectroscopic observations.
Read more