The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reports that astronomers have determined the power sources behind the Tycho supernova remnant. According to astronomers, for several weeks/months after a star explodes as a supernova, it shines brightly before growing dimmer. This is not the case, however, with the material blasted outward by the explosion. Thousands of years later, the material still glows, forming a striking supernova remnant.

In the case of Tycho’s supernova remnant, astronomers have discovered that a reverse shock wave moving inward at Mach 1000 is warming the remnant and causing it give off X-ray light.

“We wouldn’t be able to study ancient supernova remnants without a reverse shock to light them up,” posited Hiroya Yamaguchi of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in a news release.

According to the CfA, Tycho’s supernova was spotted by Tycho Brahe in 1572. The entrance of this “new star” stunned those who strongly believed the heavens were invariable. At its shiniest, the supernova rivaled the brightness of Venus before fading from sight a year later.

Many years later, astronomers know that Tycho and his friends observed a Type Ia supernova, which is the result of the explosion of a white dwarf star. The explosion ejected elements like silicon and iron into space at 11 million miles per hour.

Eventually these elements ran into encircling interstellar gas and, as a result, a shock wave developed. That same shock wave is still moving outward today at approximately Mach 300. The impact also developed a reverse shock wave that travels inward at Mach 1000.

“It’s like the wave of brake lights that marches up a line of traffic after a fender-bender on a busy highway,” remarked co-author Randall Smith of the CfA.

The reverse shock wave heats gases inside the supernova remnant and causes them to fluoresce in almost the same why that fluorescent light bulbs are lit, besides the fact that the supernova remnant emits X-rays instead of visible light. The reverse shock wave is what allows astronomers to analyze supernova remnants.

“Thanks to the reverse shock, Tycho’s supernova keeps on giving,” noted Smith.

The astronomers want to explore the cosmos for more proof of reverse shock waves in other young supernova remnants.

The study’s findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal.

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