A supernova will appear in the sky in the first few month of 2016,according to astronomersworking on the Hubble Space Telescope . The prediction is possible because they first experience the star explode in 2014 in a gravitationally lensed beetleweed , which will make it visible again next twelvemonth .
gravitative lenseshappen when a massive physical object ( or objects such as a clump of galaxy ) magnifies and distorts the light of background extragalactic nebula . In this cause , the galax cluster is so monolithic that it deforms space and prison term so that it acts like a mammoth magnifying field glass .
Sometimes , these distortions produce multiple image of the same target . Although they belong to to the same galaxy , the figure of speech we see were not emitted at the same time . Because light trip at a finite speed , photons will take a dissimilar amount of prison term to travel around the monumental physical object count on the path they follow – with some routes taking longer than others .
The supernova explosion that we will see in 2016 is a re - run of the 2014 one , known as the Refsdal Supernova . It was father in a galaxy nine billion light - years forth , and the lens system is created by a massive galax clustering , calledMACS J1149 + 2223 , five billion light - years from us .
When the physical object was first disclose , astronomers saw the supernova four times , as one of the images was perfectly aligned with an oviform beetleweed in the cluster , farm an extra lensing rise . By studying the matter statistical distribution in the cluster , the squad was able to predict that some of the photons emitted by the supernova are still traveling and are yet to get in at Earth . For this cause , Hubble will now periodically stare at the lensed Galax urceolata in the hope of spotting the star going off .
The supernova was named Refsdal in honor of the Norwegian astrophysicist Sjur Refsdal who , in 1964 , first suggest using a gravitationally lensed supernova to analyse the expansion of the universe . “ Astronomers have been seem to get hold one ever since , ” said Tommaso Treu , lead author of thepaperwhich line Refsdal Supernova , in astatementearlier this year . “ And now the long wait is over ! ”
( h / t : Gizmodo )
