Descubriendo los secretos de las supernovas
La animación de esta Imagen de la Semana nos muestra la galaxia cercana NGC3456 en miles de colores o longitudes de onda de luz diferentes, captada con el Very Large Telescope (VLT) de ESO, que se encuentra en el Observatorio Paranal. Gracias a las observaciones de más de 100 galaxias, incluida esta, la comunidad astronómica está descubriendo que hay propiedades de las estrellas masivas que podrían determinar si acaban estallando como espectaculares supernovas o no.
Las supernovas de colapso de núcleo son el final de un tipo de estrellas masivas extremadamente energéticas, aquellas con ocho veces o más masa que el Sol. Aparte de su gran tamaño, las propiedades exactas (como la composición química) de las estrellas que mueren como supernovas son poco conocidas porque rara vez llegamos a verlas antes de que exploten. Pero podemos estudiar los lugares en los que han tenido lugar estas explosiones.
Un nuevo estudio ,dirigido por el exalumno de ESO, Thallis Pessi, de la Universidad Diego Portales (Chile), ha hecho precisamente eso. El equipo analizó las galaxias en las que se han producido supernovas, comparando los lugares de las explosiones con todas las demás regiones dentro de esas galaxias. Descubrieron que la proporción de elementos más pesados que el hidrógeno o el helio influye en el desencadenamiento de una supernova: las estrellas masivas nacidas del gas con una menor abundancia de estos elementos tienen más probabilidades de explotar como supernovas.
El equipo utilizó datos del instrumento Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), instalado en el VLT. MUSE divide la luz proveniente de cada lugar dentro de su campo de visión en un arco iris o espectro, lo que permite al equipo mapear la composición química de estas galaxias.
Crédito:ESO/T. Pessi et al.
Sobre el vídeo
| Identificador: | potw2345a |
| Idioma: | es-cl |
| Fecha de publicación: | 6 de Noviembre de 2023 a las 06:00 |
| Duración: | 42 s |
| Frame rate: | 25 fps |
Sobre el objeto
| Nombre: | NGC3456 |
| Tipo: | Early Universe : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Supernova |
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