在智利用大望远镜观看距离地球168,000光年的超新星爆炸会是怎样的景象呢?科学家又有怎样的发现呢?我们一起来看看吧。 6 E3 V9 B# i0 p) x! b+ v. W
Astronomers have for the first time obtained a 3D view of the aftermath of a star exploding (which is known as a supernova).1 g( T7 L W3 A- z; p* T
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The team used the Very Large Telescope in Chile to study the supernova 1987A, which lies 168,000 light-years away.( t- W7 T: ^8 R% D5 U
" ` ^# }$ O7 \" f" Z0 P) ` The results show the original blast was very powerful and concentrated in one particular direction.( x$ i! g0 R& |
% S2 Q, V+ S! ] Seen in 1987, it was the first supernova visible with the naked eye to have been observed for some 383 years.
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# d4 _( q1 g) q; Y5 R0 O# L6 x1 d The 3-D view shows the explosion was stronger and faster in some directions than others, leading to an irregular shape with some parts stretching further out into space.* x: z, C6 x, r0 V7 I% S8 D v
9 Z! _! [7 I3 E8 u% f This phenomenon was predicted by some of the most recent computer models of supernovae, which found that large-scale instabilities take place during the explosion.
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3 y a/ V" V: z8 d% P The observations of SN 1987A were made using the SINFONI instrument on the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.1 x$ e% V- ~: m* V% P* D
3 `) `8 ^& E# \- Y2 ~ The first material to be ejected from the explosion travelled at 100 million km per hour, which is about 100,000 times faster than a passenger jet.
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* q3 M( Q# {7 q' e( X! k) q Even at this incredible speed it has taken 10 years to reach a previously existing ring of gas and dust puffed out by the star while it was dying.
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, `0 D8 K; ?+ S: {& S5 L7 ] The images also show another wave of material is travelling ten times more slowly and is being heated by radioactive elements created in the explosion.: G; [' y9 `9 I" ^& }0 O
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The research is to be published in the academic journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. |