March 9, 2015
Some stars end in silence, some in fire, and some leave behind the raw materials for birthdays.
Galaxy and Cluster Create Four Images of Distant Supernova
Birthday · March 9, 2015
A little universe, just for you
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APOD published March 9, 2015. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
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Galaxy and Cluster Create Four Images of Distant Supernova
Original APOD · March 9, 2015 ↗What are the unusual spots surrounding that galaxy? They are all images of the same supernova. For the first time, a single supernova explosion has been seen split into multiple images by the gravitational lens deflections of intervening masses. In this case the masses are a large galaxy and its home galaxy cluster. The featured image was captured last November by the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The yellow-hued quadruply-imaged Supernova Refsdal occurred in the early universe far behind the cluster. Measuring the locations and time-delays between the supernova images should allow astrophysicists to recover the amount of dark matter in the galaxy and cluster. With patience and luck, a fifth image of the supernova will also be recovered nearby in the next few years. Astrophysicists: Browse 1,000+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library