The Pinwheel Galaxy, also known as M101, experienced a supernova event. This celestial occurrence took place within the constellation Ursa Major, where the galaxy is located.
What takes place when a star in a galaxy erupts? One such event occurred in May of this year in a galaxy almost 21 million light years away from Earth. For a brief period of time, it outshines the galaxy, enough for telescopes on Earth to view it.
Amateur astronomers working for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Fahd Bin Abdul Hasis, Kiran Mohan, and Vishak Sasidharan from the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), captured the explosion known as SN 2023ixf.
The Pinwheel Galaxy, which is located in the constellation Ursa Major, is where the supernova took place. Another name for the galaxy is M101. On May 19 and May 22, astronomers took two images of the galaxy in an effort to capture the star's brief flash before it exploded in the two images.
The largest explosion ever seen from Earth is a supernova, which occurs when a star with at least five times the mass of the sun explodes as it runs out of fuel.
The largest explosion ever seen from Earth is a supernova, which occurs when a star with at least five times the mass of the sun explodes as it runs out of fuel.
When a star reaches the end of its life and runs out of fuel for nuclear fusion at its core, these enormous explosions take place. The resultant collapse of the star's core sets off a tremendous explosion that can momentarily eclipse entire galaxies in brightness.
Type-II supernovas, like the explosion SN2023ixf, happen when a huge star with a mass more than eight times that of the sun runs out of nuclear fuel and starts to compress due to gravity.
The group of amateur astronomers used the iOptronSkyGuider pro as their sky-tracking tool, combined with a Nikon Z6 ii camera with a Samyang 135 mm lens at f2.8 and ISO 1000, to view the explosion in deep space. Then, as part of the picture processing, the scientists layered many frames to improve the details of SN2023ixf.
