Hubble has just photographed an exceptional phenomenon: a supernova located 650 million light years from Earth. The exploding star appears as a pale blue dot in the heart of the Gemini constellation. This photo reveals the secrets of a rare cosmic event, immortalized shortly after its discovery.
The year 2025 begins in beauty for the astronomy enthusiasts. After the spectacular photos taken by astronaut Don Pettit aboard the ISS or the breathtaking photos from the Hubble telescope last year, the new space images continue to amaze us. With each shot, these technological feats push the limits of our understanding of the universe.
Once again, it is the Hubble telescope who focused his lens on an exceptional event: thestar explosion in the galaxy LEDA 22057, located in the constellation Gemini. There supernovacalled SN 2024PI, was immortalized approximately six weeks after its discovery. The latter appears as a pale blue dot just to the right of the galactic core.
Hubble photographs exploding star in distant galaxy
The supernova SN 2024PI is distinguished by its rarity. This is a type Ia supernova, a phenomenon that can only occur in very specific conditions. Indeed, this type of stellar explosion requires the presence of a white dwarfan extremely dense and “dead” star. The latter must to be part of a binary systemorbiting with another star. When the white dwarf siphons matter from its companion star, it reaches critical mass, which triggers a thermonuclear explosion. This devastating process completely destroyed and generates a visible light to hundreds of millions of light years.
The image, recently unveiled by Hubble, shows the galaxy spiral LEDA 22057 in all its splendor. The galaxy’s bright white core contrasts with its spiral arms, forming a spectacular backdrop for the supernova. Although the pale blue dot representing SN 2024PI appears inconspicuous in the photo, it contains crucial information for scientists. They use this data to better understand the stellar evolution process and the mechanisms that govern supernovas. Thanks to observations from this telescope, thousands of similar events have been cataloged. These discoveries open the way to a better understanding of the universe.
Source : ESA
