The Cassiopeia A supernova was of type IIb - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 2008 May 30;320(5880):1195-7.

doi: 10.1126/science.1155788.

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The Cassiopeia A supernova was of type IIb

Oliver Krause et al. Science. 2008.

Abstract

Cassiopeia A is the youngest supernova remnant known in the Milky Way and a unique laboratory for supernova physics. We present an optical spectrum of the Cassiopeia A supernova near maximum brightness, obtained from observations of a scattered light echo more than three centuries after the direct light of the explosion swept past Earth. The spectrum shows that Cassiopeia A was a type IIb supernova and originated from the collapse of the helium core of a red supergiant that had lost most of its hydrogen envelope before exploding. Our finding concludes a long-standing debate on the Cassiopeia A progenitor and provides new insight into supernova physics by linking the properties of the explosion to the wealth of knowledge about its remnant.

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