Hubble observes supernova 1994I in M51
On May 12, 1994, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has returned the
most detailed images ever of supernova 1994I in the Whirlpool
Galaxy M51.
The view in this picture encompasses the inner region of the
galaxy’s grand spiral disk, which extends all the way to the
bright nucleus.
An arrow points to the location of the supernova, which lies
approximately 2,000 light-years from the nucleus. The supernova
appears to be superposed on a diffuse background of starlight.
The Hubble Space Telescope was also used to measure the spectrum
of the supernova in the ultraviolet light, which can be used to
analyze the chemical composition and the motion of the gas
ejected in the explosion.
This supernova was
discovered on April 2, 1994 by amateur
astronomers Jerry Armstrong and Tim Puckett of the Atlanta Astronomy
Club and has been the target of investigations by astronomers using
ground-based optical and radio telescopes and NASA’s International
Ultraviolet Explorer satellite.
Because a supernova explosion is a billion times as bright as a star
like the Sun, they can be seen to great distances and may prove useful
in charting the size of the universe. These previous observations
show that SN 1994I is a very unusual supernova, called “Type Ic,” for
which very few examples have been studied carefully. The ultraviolet
observations made with HST will help astronomers understand what type
of stellar explosion led to supernova 1994I.
Credit:
Robert P. Kirshner/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics,
NASA
- Supernova 1994I discovery image
- Amateur images of supernova 1994I
- More HST images of M51
Last Modification: 6 Jul 1999, 23:40 MET