The Big Bang 2.0 is here. Using NASA’s Kepler telescope, Astronomers were able to capture a large flash in outer space caused from an exploding star’s shockwave.
RED SUPERGIANTS EXPLODE IN OUTERSPACE
Peter Garnarvich, a professor from the University of Notre Dame discovered the shockwave. NASA says Garnavich and a team of scientists have been analyzing the light from their telescope over a three-year period from 500 different galaxies and 50 trillion stars. With those odds, seeing an exploding Red Supergiant in outer space was bound to happen sooner or later. These supergiants that are 500 times the size of the sun, were caught exploding back in 2011 at around 1.2 billion light years away. In miles, that’s 5.8 trillion.
NASA CAPTURES HISTORY
In order to see something which happens within a matter of minutes, one must have a constant eye on outer space. NASA had a camera continuously rolling in order to capture this latest shock breakout. NASA has labeled the explosion as “Type II”. Type II is when the furnace of the star runs out of nuclear fuel, leading the core to collapses on itself. Gravity takes control from there and what we get is a big mess in outer space. Besides looking cool, these explosions help NASA learn some vital facts about our galaxy.
LIFE EXISTS BECAUSE OF SUPERNOVA
Heavy elements like nickel, copper, silver are found all over the earth and even our bodies. How these elements came to be is the direct result of a supernova explosion. In their death came the birth of our life. When NASA monitors these explosions in outer space, it helps them further understand how our universe was created. Just last year, the agency discovered Kepler 452b which is the first near-Earth-size planet that may exist in a habitable environment. This only proves the farther we look into the stretches of outer space, the closer we will come to understanding our role right here on Earth.
