Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
NASA has published an image of the 30 Doradus B nebula, which is the creation of at least two exploded stars.
The nebula is located 160 thousand light years away from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It is part of the Tarantula Nebula complex. The region is vast and contains ionised hydrogen, where new stars have been forming for the past 8 to 10 million years.
Astronomers combined X-ray data from the Chandra telescope (purple), optical data from the 4-metre Victor Blanco telescope (orange and blue), and infrared data from the Spitzer telescope (red) to study 30 Doradus B. Additionally, Hubble telescope data in black and white were added to highlight sharp features in the image.
The scientists obtained the most detailed image of the nebula in history, revealing the presence of a faint shell that emits X-ray radiation. The shell has a diameter of approximately 130 light years, while the closest star to the Sun is only 4 light years away. Additionally, the Chandra data detected charged particles emitted by the pulsar.
After comparing this data with observations from other telescopes, the researchers concluded that a single supernova explosion cannot account for what they observed. The pulsar and the bright X-ray emission at the centre of 30 Doradus B most likely resulted from the collapse of a massive star that occurred about 5,000 years ago. However, the larger dim X-ray shell is too extensive to be the result of the same supernova explosion.
The team believes that there have been at least two supernova outbursts in 30 Doradus B, with the X-ray shell being formed by another supernova that exploded more than 5,000 years ago. It is possible that there were even more in the past. This result could aid astronomers in understanding the life and death of massive stars.
The publication is based on materials https://www.nasa.gov
