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SPACE FORENSICS:Death of a Star
Sara MitchellJim Lochner
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
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What’s a supernova?
Can you spot the supernova?
Supernova Timeline
• Earliest recorded supernova — 185 A.D. in China
• Famous historic supernovae in 1006, 1572, and 1604 A.D.
• First telescope built in 1608 by Hans Lippershey
• Multiwavelength observations of supernova remnants began in 1937
Beginning the Investigation
What do we want to know ?
Case File: Cassiopeia A
•Host Galaxy: Milky Way•Constellation: Cassiopeia•Galactic Coordinates: G111.7-2.1
•Distance: ~10,000 light years
•Discovery: 1947
Interesting facts:•Discovered by radio observation
•Strongest radio source in the sky beyond our solar system
Image: Chandra X-Ray Observatory August 19, 1999
Crime Scene Photographs
VisibleX-Ray RadioInfrared
Hot gas
(50 million degrees)
Clumps of matter
(10,000 degrees)
Dust grains
(several hundred degrees)
Spiraling high energy
electrons
Why Multiwavelength?
Supernova “DNA”
“Signature” Spectroscopy
Looking for Signatures
All X-RayEnergies
Calcium
Silicon
Iron
Case Closed?
•Have we answered all of our questions?
•Have we found new questions?•Where else can we find
answers?•What could we learn from
seeing a “live” supernova?
Is Cas A a “cold case”?
Image: SN2005cs© 2005-2007 by R. Jay GaBanyhttp://www.cosmotography.com
Is Cas A a “cold case”?
Image: SN2005apSloan Digital Sky Survey
Larger Body of Evidence
Crab Nebula(from SN 1054)
Tycho’s SN(SN 1572)
Kepler’s SN(SN 1604)
SN 1987A
Space Forensics: The Big Picture