{"id":23205,"date":"2023-01-20T14:39:23","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T13:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=135055"},"modified":"2023-01-20T15:35:24","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T14:35:24","slug":"radio-telescopes-snap-stunning-supernova-remnants-hidden-throughout-the-milky-way","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/radio-telescopes-snap-stunning-supernova-remnants-hidden-throughout-the-milky-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio telescopes snap stunning supernova remnants hidden throughout the Milky Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Jason Goodyer\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 20 January 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The bright, bubbly blobs seen in this image are supernova remnants \u2013 clouds of hot gas and debris that are left behind after the dramatic explosion that occurs at the end of a star\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Theoretical models of the Universe predict that there should be far more of them scattered throughout the Milky Way than astronomers have so far been able to observe.<\/p>\n

However, this new image, produced using data collected by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP)<\/a> and the Parkes Observatory<\/a> radio telescopes in Australia, has uncovered more than a dozen supernova remnants that were previously unknown. This suggests that there are many more hiding in plain sight elsewhere in the galaxy.<\/p>\n

The image was produced as part of a collaboration between the Australia National Science Agency\u2019s Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU)<\/a> project and the PEGASUS radio telescope survey, which is led by Italy\u2019s National Institute for Astrophysics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new picture showcases a region of the Milky Way, only visible to radio telescopes, where we can see extended emission associated with hydrogen gas filling the space between dying stars, related to the birth of new stars, and hot bubbles of gas called supernova remnants,\u201d said Prof Andrew Hopkins<\/a>, lead scientist of the EMU Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver twenty new possible supernova remnants have been discovered as a result of combining these images, where only seven were previously known.\u201d<\/p>\n

By pooling data from the two telescopes, the researchers were able to map a region covering roughly 1 per cent of the galactic plane of the Milky Way, the plane in which the majority of its mass lies. But this is just the start.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe eventual results will be an unprecedented view of almost the entire Milky Way, about a hundred times larger than this initial image, but achieving the same level of detail and sensitivity,\u201d said Hopkins.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is estimated that there may be about 1,500 more supernova remnants in the galaxy that astronomers haven\u2019t discovered yet. Finding the missing remnants will help us unlock more of an understanding of our galaxy and its history.\u201d<\/p>\n