Stars are exciting enough for astronomers since they provide tremendous amounts of light and energy for their surrounding planets. But supernovae might be at the “next-level” since they can be as big and imposing as an entire galaxy. Furthermore, some of the heavy chemical elements can be formed only within supernovae explosions themselves.
But getting both of them, a star and its supernovae phase, in one package, has been the dream scenario for scientists for a pretty long time. But according to SciTechDaily.com, astronomers led by Wynn Jacobson-Galán, who’s an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at UC Berkeley, were lucky enough to spot such a star, along with its impending demise. For their discovery, they’ve used two observatories from Hawaii: the Pan-STARRS from Haleakala, Maui, as well as the W. M. Keck Observatory from Maunakea, Hawaii Island.
Eyes set on SN 2020tlf
The SN 2020tlf is the supernova in question, and it was observed in the last 130 days before it went “boom”. It’s a Type II supernova, meaning a massive star rapidly collapsing before its explosion.
Study lead author Jacobson-Galán explained in a press release, as quoted by SciTechDaily.com:
This is a breakthrough in our understanding of what massive stars do moments before they die,
Direct detection of pre-supernova activity in a red supergiant star has never been observed before in an ordinary Type II supernova. For the first time, we watched a red supergiant star explode!
To be more precise, the team of astronomers made their discovery by using the Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS) from the Keck Observatory for capturing the first spectrum of the supernova. Circumstellar material surrounding the star became detectable due to LRS data. Pan-STARSS detected the material ejected from the star in the summer of 2020 before its explosion.
The study paper was published in The Astrophysical Journal.