SN2011fe - Supernova Caught 11 Hours After It Exploded
Sunday, December 18, 2011 - 03:40
in Astronomy & Space
Type Ia supernovae, the extraordinarily bright "standard candles" astronomers use to measure cosmic growth which led to the theory of dark energy in 1998 and 13 years later to a Nobel Prize "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe" have remained mysterious – how they detonate and what the star systems that produce them actually look like before they explode - has been unknown. read more