An international team of scientists from the Weizmann Institute and Northwestern University has made a groundbreaking discovery: they found a new core of a supernova, a massive exploding star, brimming with heavy elements like silicon, sulfur, and argon.
This star, named SN2021yfj, had its outer layers stripped away in a dramatic event, allowing its blazing inner core to be observed just before the explosion. Prof. Avishay Gal-Yam from Weizmann stated, “This is the first time we have concrete evidence of heavier elements existing inside stars.”
Dr. Ofer Yaron, a colleague of Gal-Yam, and lead author Dr. Steve Schulze, a former member of the Weizmann team now at Northwestern, collaborated with researchers from France, Italy, China, and Ireland on this significant study.
Their findings were published in Nature, highlighting how supernovas can reveal elemental composition in stars. Typically, massive stars are known to collapse in a split second, releasing bright light that can be observed for weeks. The team first spotted SN2021yfj’s flare in September 2021 using the Zwicky Transient Facility, a telescope designed for wide-sky scanning.
Interestingly, when Schulze sought to analyze the star’s light spectrum, he faced challenges. Many telescopes couldn’t capture clear images due to weather conditions. However, support from colleagues at UC Berkeley enabled them to obtain the spectrum data needed.
The research uncovered that SN2021yfj lost most of its outer material before the explosion, exposing its core. “We were able to see the material formed right before the explosion,” Schulze explained. This gave scientists a rare chance to study heavy elements typically hidden beneath outer layers.
Gal-Yam emphasized the broader significance of this study. Understanding where heavy elements come from can deepen our grasp of the universe. “Every atom in our bodies originated from stars,” he noted, highlighting the journey of elements through time and space.
Massive stars, often 10 to 100 times more massive than our Sun, usually shed light outer layers, revealing helium or carbon. But SN2021yfj ejected far more, suggesting intense activity before its supernova event. Some scientists hypothesize that this could relate to interactions with a companion star or intense stellar winds.
Insights like these expand our understanding of the universe and how elements form. Gal-Yam’s group continues to investigate these cosmic puzzles, always eager to discover new phenomena.
Recent studies reveal that our understanding of supernovas can help address bigger questions, such as the origin of heavy elements and their role in the formation of planets. As research advances, we are peering deeper into the universe’s secrets, reminding us of our connection to these stellar processes.
For further reading on this fascinating topic, you can explore more through Nature and the Zwicky Transient Facility’s findings.
