JPL: 2,000-Year-Old Mystery Solved

NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer – WISE – and the Spitzer Space Telescope have provided data that allowed astronomers to solve a 2,000-year-old space mystery: why was that ancient supernova so large?

In 185 A.D., Chinese astronomers recorded a star that mysteriously appeared one night and lasted for about eight months. Scientists in the 1960’s determined it to be the first documented supernova, later identifying it as RCW 86, located about 8,000 light years from Earth. However, scientists continued to be baffled by the star’s spherical, larger-than-expected remains.

New infrared data show that the supernova was created by a “type la” event, where the original star dies and shrinks into a denser white dwarf. In this case, the white dwarf is believed to have siphoned matter, acting as fuel, off a nearby star causing it to explode into a supernova.

The observations also reveal that a white dwarf can produce a cavity around itself before blowing up. This cavity could have boosted ejected material outward from the explosion, explaining why RCW 86’s remains are so large.

Visit NASA to view the latest image of RCW 86.

JPL manages the Spitzer Space Telescope and the WISE mission. Learn more by visiting the WISE and Spitzer websites.

Cold Water Vapor Could Create Oceans

Astronomers using data from the Herschel Space Observatory have detected for the first time cold water vapor enveloping a disk around a young star. TW Hydrae, a 10-million -year - orange dwarf star about 175 light years away from earth, is smaller and cooler than our sun. Scientists believe that over the next few million years, the matter within the disk will collide and develop into asteroids, planets, and other cosmic bits as a new solar system evolves.

TW Hydrae’s water is believed to come from ice-coated grains of dust near the disk’s surface. This water can be transported by comets formed in the disk that may eventually collide with new planets and transfer the water molecules through impact. Project astronomer Michiel Hogerhijide noted in a JPL press release that observations of “this cold vapor indicate enough water exists in the disk to fill thousands of Earths oceans.”

To learn more about TW Hydrae and Herschel, visit NASA’s Herschel website.

Space View Provides Super Map of Earth

A new and improved complete digital topographic map of Earth has been produced by a -based team of scientists and their partners in Japan using specific measurements collected by NASA’s Terra spacecraft.

Launched in 1999, Terra is the flagship of the Earth Observing System, a team of spacecraft tasked with observing Earth from space to gather data aimed at researching the planet’s land masses, oceans, atmosphere and life forms as they function as a complete environmental system. Terra carries five instruments, including the Advanced Spaceborn Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, ASTER, which provided the data for the map.

Updated from a 2009 version, the map offers improved spatial resolution, vertical and horizontal accuracy, and identification of bodies of waters, including the detection of lakes smaller than one mile in diameter.

"These data can be used for a broad range of applications, from planning highways and protecting lands with cultural or environmental significance, to searching for natural resources,” said ASTER science team leader Mike Abrams in a press release from JPL.

The map is available to the public at no cost online and can be accessed through NASA’s weblink. To learn more about Terra and ASTER, visits NASA’s ASTER website and Terra Mission website.