This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The only known supernova remnant of its kind in the Milky Way has an unexpectedly intricate structure: chains of gas knots resembling pearls on a string, each wide enough to fit the solar system multiple times. Using the Gemini North telescope, an international team co-led by Ilaria Caiazzo, assistant professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), captured the most detailed view yet of Pa 30, revealing striking new features of the remnant associated with a historical supernova witnessed nearly 850 years ago.
The findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal. Is this a fireworks display? Described as a dandelion-shaped remnant of a massive stellar explosion, this object shows us the aftermath of the blast.
Adding to its unusual character is a surviving "zombie star" at its core—the stellar remnant of an incomplete explosion. First identified in 2013 by a citizen scientist, the supernova remnant nebula Pa 30 was later linked to a historical stellar explosion witnessed and recorded independently in Japanese, Chinese and Arabic historical sources in 1181. This has connected Pa 30 to one of just five supernovae recorded before the telescope era whose remnants had long remained unidentified.
Using NOIRLab's Gemini North telescope, an international team of astronomers co-led by Tim Cunningham from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian and Caiazzo, assistant professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), has now revealed the most detailed view yet of Pa 30. Their findings: What appeared to be smooth "firework" streaks are actually chains of knots resembling pearls on a string—each wide enough to fit 10 times the orbit of Neptune, the outermost planet in our solar system, with room to spare. At about 7,500 light-years away, Pa 30 is relatively close to Earth by astronomical standards—much nearer than the center of the Milky Way, about 26,000 light-years away.
Although these distances sound very large, they are quite small compared with the immense scale of the universe. Pa 30 is the only known object of its kind in the Milky Way. While astronomers have identified a few similar objects in other galaxies, it remains the only one where our telescopes can see the surviving remnant of the incomplete explosion at its core—the "zombie star." This type of incomplete explosion is known as a Type Iax supernova, a rare class of stellar explosion.
Researchers have proposed that Pa 30 resulted from a collision between two white dwarfs—extremely dense, Earth-sized stellar remnants that have exhausted their fuel and shed their outer layers. "We can see this much detail because of Pa 30's proximity to Earth," says Caiazzo. "This proximity makes Pa 30 uniquely valuable for study." According to Cunningham, our galaxy could also be home to other remnants of Type Iax supernovae that have yet to be spotted.
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