CAN YOU RECOGNISE A SUPERNOVA?

Can you recognise a supernova?

Hint: The red dot in the centre of this image indicates that a star has exploded.

Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys analysed this distant supernova 8 billion light-years away. This was done to learn more about the early universe.

When we look this far away, we are actually seeing light from ancient times. This supernova may have exploded at an early time when the expansion of the universe was slowed by gravity.

The universe began with a rapid expansion called the big bang, and after this first short expansion, gravity began to slow down the expansion of the universe.

Later, the expansion of the universe began to be accelerated by a mysterious cosmic force called dark energy.

There is very little data on the transition between these two phases. But observations of such distant supernovae allow scientists to learn more about the entire history of the expansion of the universe.

This supernova image, known as SN 2002dd, was captured by Hubble along with other exposures taken in May and June 2002.

Image description:

Several galaxies, including an orange spiral galaxy near the right centre, glow against dark space. The small red dot in the centre indicates a supernova.