The story of a star that survived its own supernova explosion is one of cosmic resilience. Located within the Milky Way galaxy, this remarkable star shone even brighter after being struck by a massive explosion in 2012. Its journey to becoming a supernova survivor began thousands of years ago, and it has captivated scientists ever since.

The spiral galaxy NGC 1309, situated about 100 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus, is home to this incredible star. In stunning images captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the galaxy reveals its intricate details: bluish stars, dark brown gas clouds, and a pearly white center. The image also showcases hundreds of distant background galaxies, each one a cosmic wonder in its own right.

The remarkable story of this supernova survivor begins with two significant events: SN 2002fk in 2002 and SN 2012Z in 2012. While the first event was a perfect example of a Type Ia supernova, which occurs when the core of a dead star (a white dwarf) explodes, the second event was different – it was classified as a Type Iax supernova.

Unlike its Type Ia counterpart, SN 2012Z did not completely destroy the white dwarf, leaving behind a ‘zombie star’ that shone even brighter than before. This phenomenon has never been observed before, and scientists have used Hubble observations to study this extraordinary event in detail.

In fact, these observations also made it possible to identify the white dwarf progenitor of a supernova for the first time ever, providing valuable insights into the cosmic processes that shape our universe. The story of this star’s survival is a testament to the awe-inspiring power and complexity of the cosmos.

The discovery of an ultra-hot Jupiter exoplanet named TOI-2109b has left astronomers on high alert, as this extreme planet is now spiraling towards its star at a breakneck pace. Located a staggering 870 light-years from Earth, this gargantuan gas giant completes an orbit around its star in just 16 hours – a record that makes it the closest hot Jupiter ever discovered.

“We’re witnessing a cosmic death dance,” says Dr. Jaime A. Alvarado-Montes, a Macquarie Research Fellow who led the international study published on July 15 in The Astrophysical Journal. “TOI-2109b is super-close to its star, and its mass is nearly five times that of Jupiter. It’s like Mercury’s mass, but it takes just 16 hours for this huge gas giant to orbit its star.”

The team analyzed transit timing data from multiple ground-based telescopes, NASA’s TESS mission, and the European Space Agency’s CHEOPS satellite spanning 2010 to 2024. The results revealed subtle changes in the planet’s orbit, confirming that TOI-2109b may be spiraling towards its star.

The researchers have identified three possible fates for this doomed exoplanet: it could be torn apart by tidal forces, plunge directly into its star, or have its gaseous envelope stripped away by intense radiation, leaving only a rocky core. This cataclysmic event could provide valuable insights into the mysteries of planetary evolution and the formation of rocky worlds.

The study suggests that some rocky planets in other solar systems might be the stripped cores of former gas giants – a possibility that could reshape our understanding of planetary evolution. As astronomers continue to monitor TOI-2109b over the next three to five years, they will detect the predicted orbital changes, providing real-time observation of a planetary system in its death throes.

This remarkable discovery has left scientists on high alert, and it’s only a matter of time before we witness the impending doom of this ultra-hot Jupiter. As we gaze into the cosmos, we are reminded that there is still so much to learn about our universe and its many secrets waiting to be uncovered.

A team of astronomers has made a groundbreaking discovery, shedding new light on the mysteries of our solar system. Led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, researchers have identified a rare object, 2020 VN40, that is “dancing” with Neptune in the outer reaches of the solar system.

Located far beyond Neptune’s orbit, this enigmatic body belongs to a class known as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). What makes 2020 VN40 remarkable is its unique motion, which is synchronized with Neptune’s orbital period. In other words, this object completes one orbit around the sun for every ten orbits that Neptune makes.

This extraordinary discovery has significant implications for our understanding of the outer solar system and how it evolved. It supports the idea that many distant objects are temporarily “caught” in Neptune’s gravity as they drift through space. This phenomenon could be a key to unraveling the secrets of the solar system’s early days, when the planets were still forming.

“This is a big step in understanding the outer solar system,” said Rosemary Pike, lead researcher from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. “It shows that even very distant regions influenced by Neptune can contain objects, and it gives us new clues about how the solar system evolved.”

The discovery was made possible through the Large inclination Distant Objects (LiDO) survey, which used advanced telescopes to search for unusual objects in the outer solar system. The LiDO team’s findings were published this month in The Planetary Science Journal.

The LiDO survey has already discovered over 140 distant objects, and more discoveries are expected from future surveys. With new telescopes like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scientists hope to find many more objects like 2020 VN40, revealing even more secrets about our solar system’s past.

As Dr. Samantha Lawler (University of Regina), a core member of the LiDO team, noted, “It has been fascinating to learn how many small bodies in the solar system exist on these very large, very tilted orbits.” The discovery of 2020 VN40 is indeed a thrilling moment for astronomy, as it opens a new window into the solar system’s past and promises to reveal fresh insights about the workings of our cosmic neighborhood.