Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2020 October 23

                            Supernova in NGC 2525
      Image Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Riess (STScI/JHU) and the SH0ES team
                   Acknowledgment: M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble)

   Explanation: Big, beautiful, barred spiral galaxy NGC 2525 lies 70
   million light-years from the Milky Way. It shines in Earth's night sky
   within the boundaries of the southern constellation Puppis. About
   60,000 light-years across, its spiral arms lined with dark dust clouds,
   massive blue stars, and pinkish starforming regions wind through this
   gorgeous Hubble Space Telescope snapshot. Spotted on the outskirts of
   NGC 2525 in January 2018, supernova SN 2018gv is the brightest star in
   the frame at the lower left. In time-lapse, a year long series of
   Hubble observations followed the stellar explosion, the nuclear
   detonation of a white dwarf star triggered by accreting material from a
   companion star, as it slowly faded from view. Identified as a Type Ia
   supernova, its brightness is considered a cosmic standard candle. Type
   Ia supernovae are used to measure distances to galaxies and determine
   the expansion rate of the Universe.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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