Scientists detect five supernovae that never been seen before
August 5, 2021
This image shows galaxy Arp 148, captured by NASA's Spitzer and Hubble telescopes. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Stars are exploding in dusty galaxies. We just can’t always see them.
Exploding stars generate dramatic light shows. Infrared telescopes like Spitzer can see through the haze and to give a better idea of how often these explosions occur.
You’d think that
supernovae—the death throes of massive stars and among the brightest, most powerful explosions in the universe—would be hard to miss.
Yet the number of these blasts observed in the distant parts of the universe falls way short of astrophysicists’ predictions.