“The First Recorded Supernova Remnant: Exploring the Ruins of SN 185 and RCW 86”

Bewara! The first trace of a supernova has been successfully recorded in history! The explosion occurred in 185 AD or 1800 years ago.

Astronomers managed to capture the glowing remnant of supernova SN 185 with the Dark Energy Camera (DEC) attached to the Viktor M. Blanco telescope in Chile. Astronomers call it the ruins of the RCW 86 structure.

SN 185 is the death of a white dwarf that occurs at a distance of 8000 light years from Earth in the direction of Alpha Centauri. More precisely, this star explosion occurred between the constellations Circinus and Centaurus. Over time, the structure expanded and evolved into RCW 186. This structure has features such as rings and clouds flying from its center. It’s like a balloon whose flakes scatter when it explodes!

Supernova Ruins

Astronomers managed to create rare images of the supernova ruins with the help of a wide-field-of-view Dark Energy camera. Until now, astronomers had difficulty understanding how these structures evolved and expanded rapidly.

So, for decades astronomers estimated it would take 10,000 years for a supernova explosion to form structures like those observed today. If so, these structures should be much older than the supernova observed in 185.

The estimate is obtained from the results of measurements of the size of the supernova debris. However, in 2006 astronomers discovered that the largest ruins were actually formed as a result of high-speed expansion or expansion. The implication is that this estimate is more in line with the age of the supernova, which is around 2000 years. And this of course strengthens the relationship between RCW 86 and the star explosion at the beginning of the century AD.

Formation of RCW 86

From the X-ray data, astronomers found the presence of large amounts of iron which marked the explosion as a Type Ia Supernova. From here astronomers can get an idea of ​​how RCW 86 was formed.

SN 185 is a white dwarf in a binary star system. As the white dwarf accelerates and devours material from its companion star, the high-speed winds from the white dwarf push all the gas and dust surrounding the star outward. This process creates a cavity-like space (on the tooth). In the end, when the white dwarf exploded, fragments of the stellar material were ejected at high speed. Fortunately, the cavity that formed gave space for the high-velocity matter to expand and produce the structure we see today.

Astronomers use these images to study the physical structure of RCW 86 and its formation.

Cool Facts

SN 185 was first seen and recorded by observers from China in 185 AD. The ancient astronomers called it a “guest star”. This star is so bright that it can be observed with the naked eye for 8 months before this light dims and disappears.

Source: This article is a republished version developed from Indonesian edition of Space Scoop Universe Awareness. The Indonesian edition of Space Scoop is translated by Langitselatan.

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