Exploding star reveals its inner layers for first time, shocking scientists
Unique event, dubbed supernova 2021yfj, revealed the star had shed its outer layers of hydrogen and helium, and its dense, innermost layers
Scientists for the first time have spotted the insides of a dying star as it exploded, offering a rare peek into stellar evolution.
Stars can live for millions to trillions of years until they run out of fuel. The most massive ones go out with a bang in an explosion called a supernova.
Using telescopes that peer deep into space, researchers have observed many such explosions. The cosmic outbursts tend to jumble up a dying star’s layers, making it hard for scientists to observe the inner structure.
But that was not the case for the new discovery, a supernova called 2021yfj located in our Milky Way galaxy.
The collapsing star’s outermost layers of hydrogen and helium had peeled away long ago, which was not surprising. But the star’s dense, innermost layers of silicon and sulphur had also shed during the explosion.
“We have never observed a star that was stripped to this amount,” said Northwestern University’s Steve Schulze, who was part of the discovery team that published the research on Wednesday in the journal Nature.