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Posted on 04/05/2026 9:05:35 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Although RCW 86 has been imaged many times before — notably by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Dark Energy Camera — new data from NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) has delivered a fresh perspective. Launched in 2021, IXPE captures X-ray data and high-energy, short-wavelength light with an all-new level of sensitivity to examine the most extreme objects in the universe, including supernova remnants.
IXPE was put to work on RCW 86 because of the remnant's irregular shape and the strange way it's expanding. Earlier observations from Chandra suggested that the supernova spread into a low-density "cavity," allowing it to grow faster than other supernova remnants. This image combines data from IXPE, Chandra and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton telescope, with low-energy X-rays shown in yellow and higher-energy emissions in blue.
IXPE's data is crucial because it can highlight polarized X-ray emissions, revealing magnetic-field structures in the remnant's outer rim. This region, marked in purple, is particularly significant because it shows where the supernova's expansion likely slowed at the edge of the cavity. IXPE's data reveals a "reflected shock" effect in RCW 86. As the expanding material from the supernova collided with the cavity boundary, shock waves were reflected toward the cavity, offering a potential explanation for both the remnant's shape and the distribution of high-energy particles.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
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Wow, a space-bourne x-ray imaging polarimeter. All I can say is wow.
I read so much SF as a young kid. Not one of those authors ever envisaged anything like that. Not Clarke, not Heinlein.
Clarke spoke of networks of space-bourne observatories, to be fair. But the specifics... no.
A “a low-density ‘cavity’” in space? I often marvel at why clouds aren’t uniformly distributed in our atmosphere, why we aren’t enveloped in uniformly distributed water vapor. Sounds like space has the same physics.
“NASA telescope uncovers new mystery in supernova first spotted by Chinese astronomers 2,000 years ago”
Was it their slanted eyes that allowed only Chinese to spot the super-bright supernova (perhaps some secret wavelength?), or was it that everyone saw it back then, but only the Chinese kept a record of it?
This Live Science article was edited since it was posted - edited out was the reference to magnetic field structures which does not appear in the original Harvard article.
Kewl beens!
was it that everyone saw it back then, but only the Chinese kept a record of it?
“...was it that everyone saw it back then, but only the Chinese kept a record of it?”
There’s nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.
Looking at the photo in the article, did anyone else see a dog with its mouth open?
Looks like it getting ready to bite the telescope.
Check Star Trek, it's probably in one of their series.
It’s not a dog it’s a fish. 😁🤙
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