As I've told you a little about supernovae let's have a look at a remnant of one. This remnant is an enormous cloud of cooling gas left behind by the explosive death of a star in 1572 observed by astronomer Tycho Brahe which, at its peak, would have been bright enough to see during the day. The nebula left behind will continue to expand and cool until it fades away entirely. The image above is a composite of several images taken in different colours, (or wavebands). This is actually a composite of X-Ray and visible light, meaning that the gas cloud is invisible to the naked eye. The supernova itself actually occurred more than 13,000 years ago and it took the light that long to travel to Tycho Brahe when he recorded it. If you're hoping that another supernova like this one might go off near to us, (although let's hope not too near) that you might be able to see with your own two eyes, it is worth looking at the nearby red giant star Betelgeuse. This star is primed to go off any minute! Unfortunately by that astronomers mean it could be tomorrow, or it could be another few hundred thousand years. Supernovae are powerful explosions; this remnant in particular is more than 50 light years across - which is just shy of a million, million, million metres.
I'm currently obtaining my doctorate in Astrophysics making me a huge nerd. I'm a fan of movies, books and games as well as having a big soft spot for music, particularly soundtracks. If it's an hour long discussion about which Final Fantasy game was the best, I'm your best bet.
