Researchers Find Youngest Known Neutron Star Hiding Within Its Supernova

Researchers have detected traces of the star that produced a powerful supernova event over 30 years ago. The researchers believe the stellar object could be the youngest neutron star or supernova remnant ever discovered.

In 1987, astronomers detected a bright supernova caused by a star’s explosion. Unfortunately, since they lacked the proper equipment and technology at the time to observe the supernova, they were not able to find the remains of the star that caused it.

After about 33 years, a new team of researchers looked into the supernova using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope network in Chile. Through their observations with ALMA, they came across a bright blob with a high heat signature hiding within the dust of the supernova.

According to their data, the mysterious blob measures about 15.5 miles wide with a temperature of around nine million degrees Fahrenheit. Due to its characteristics, the researchers believe that the blob could be the remnant of the star that triggered the supernova 33 years ago.

If the object used to be a star, then it would be classified as a neutron star, which is the remains of a stellar object that collapsed under the weight of its own gravity and produced a supernova explosion.

“In spite of the supreme complexity of a supernova explosion and the extreme conditions reigning in the interior of a neutron star, the detection of a warm blob of dust is a confirmation of several predictions,” Dany Page, an astrophysicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said in a statement.

Page led a new study conducted based on the observations of the ALMA telescope array. It was published in The Astronomical Journal.

At 33 years old, the neutron star from the supernova in 1987, which was named NS 1987A, could be the youngest cosmic object of its kind. According to the researchers, trailing behind NS 1987A as the next-youngest neutron star is Cassiopeia A, the supernova remnant of a powerful stellar explosion that occurred about 330 years ago.

“Models of cooling neutron stars within the minimal cooling paradigm readily fit both NS 1987A and Cas A, the next-youngest known neutron star,” the researchers wrote in the abstract of their study.