Central Engine Supernova

  • Released Wednesday, January 27, 2010
View full credits

In March 2009, NASA's Swift observed the supernova SN 2009bb in the spiral galaxy NGC 3278. The explosion is apparent in visible light, but not at ultraviolet and X-ray energies, and satellites recorded no gamma-ray burst. Nevertheless, particle jets reaching 85 percent the speed of light accompanied the explosion. Astronomers believe these jets are powered by a "central engine" — likely a newborn black hole at the star's center, a scenario that also fits most gamma-ray bursts.

This video labels the galaxy and supernova, and moves through visible, ultraviolet and X-ray images.

Supernova SN2009bb in the galaxy NGC 3278 viewed in the visible spectrum without labels.

Supernova SN2009bb in the galaxy NGC 3278 viewed in the visible spectrum without labels.

Supernova SN2009bb in the galaxy NGC 3278 viewed in the visible spectrum with labels.

Supernova SN2009bb in the galaxy NGC 3278 viewed in the visible spectrum with labels.

Supernova SN2009bb in the galaxy NGC 3278 viewed in the ultraviolet spectrum without labels.

Supernova SN2009bb in the galaxy NGC 3278 viewed in the ultraviolet spectrum without labels.

Supernova SN2009bb in the galaxy NGC 3278 viewed in the X-ray spectrum without labels.

Supernova SN2009bb in the galaxy NGC 3278 viewed in the X-ray spectrum without labels.

For More Information

See the following sources:

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Swift/Stefan Immler

This page was originally published on Wednesday, January 27, 2010.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:54 PM EDT.

Missions

This visualization is related to the following missions:

Series

This visualization can be found in the following series:

Tapes

This visualization originally appeared on the following tapes:
  • Various Small Astrophysics projects (ID: 2010139)
    Friday, December 17, 2010 at 5:00AM
    Produced by - Robert Crippen (NASA)