Supernova may have ‘burped’ before exploding

Supernova may have ‘burped’ before exploding

The slow fade of radioactive elements following a supernova allows astrophysicists to study them at length. But the universe is packed full of flash-in-the pan transient events lasting only a brief time, so quick and hard to study they remain a mystery.

Only by increasing the rate at which telescopes monitor the sky has it been possible to catch more Fast-Evolving Luminous Transients (FELTs) and begin to understand them.

According to a new study in Nature Astronomy, researchers say NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope captured one of the fastest FELTs to date. Peter Garnavich, professor and department chair of astrophysics and cosmology physics at the University of Notre Dame and co-author of the study, described the event as “the most beautiful light curve we will ever get for a fast transient.”

“We think these might actually be very common, these flashes, and we have just been missing them in the past because they are so fast,” Garnavich said. “The fact that one occurred in the small area of the sky being monitored by Kepler means they are probably fairly common.”

The FELT, captured in 2015, rose in brightness over just 2.2 days and faded completely within 10 days. Most supernovae can take 20 days to reach peak brightness and weeks to become undetectable.

See more on: Notre Dame Research