Betelgeuse and the Crab Nebula show how stars die, explode, and enrich the universe with heavy elements.
The Crab Nebula composite shows expanding gas filaments from a supernova across multiple wavelengths.
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The red supergiant in Orion, Betelgeuse, raised questions with its unprecedented dimming late last year over when it might explode as a supernova. Astronomers don’t know for sure when that event will happen, but they can look very far into the future by studying an exploded star called the Crab Nebula, documented in 1054. The profuse, spindly gas clouds of the Crab Nebula that are seen in a composite image combining five telescopes at radio, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, and X-ray wavelengths demonstrate how dying stars spray heavy elements like iron, passing on increased richness to space and giving birth to new stars.
Crab Nebula and Betelgeuse Reveal How Massive Stars End and Enrich the Cosmos
According to a NASA report, the Crab Nebula image is constructed from the data of the Very Large Array, Spitzer, Hubble, XMM-Newton, and Chandra observatories. Observations have revealed not only a spinning neutron star and filaments formed in the supernova explosion, but also show that 642 light-years away, the impending supernova Betelgeuse can be used to study massive stellar evolution.
By analyzing stars like Betelgeuse and the Crab Nebula, it becomes clear how supernovae spread elements, as well as filaments that trigger new star formations.
Betelgeuse and Crab Nebula Offer Insights into Stellar Life Cycles and Cosmic Evolution
Betelgeuse and the Crab Nebula are a natural laboratory for investigating the life cycle of stars and designing models of massive star evolution.
This multi-telescope view underscores the power of combining information from across the electromagnetic spectrum to piece together the full story of stellar death and rebirth, from surface changes to explosive remnants expanding across space.
