Infrared Echoes Give NASA’s Spitzer A Supernova Flashback

ScienceDaily (Oct. 1, 2008)— Hot spots near the shattered remains of an exploded star are echoing the blast’s first moments, say scientists using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Eli Dwek of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and Richard Arendt of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, say these echoes are powered by radiation from the supernova shock wave that blew the star apart some 11,000 years ago.

These observation were taken from previous images first discovered in June 2005 NASA’s Spitzer Captures Echo Of Dead Star’s Rumblings by a team from the University of Arizona. This team included my daughter Dr Joannah Hinz, who works for the Steward Observatory and is a senior research observer with the Spitzer Telescope.

As a point of interest, the “Spitzer Space Telescope” works on the infrared light range which requires it to perform cryogenically. The cryogenics deteriorate over the years and can not be replace, so the telescope has a limited life span which will expire in approx two more years.