Fermi Spies Supernova

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected a rare, supercharged supernova, likely powered by a supermagnetized neutron star. The supernova, SN 2017egm, was discovered in 2017 and is one of the closest of its type to Earth.

The Fermi mission is part of NASA's fleet of observatories monitoring the changing cosmos. The team analyzed data from Fermi's Large Area Telescope and found evidence of gamma rays from the supernova, which is about 440 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

The researchers suggest that the supernova's power source is a magnetar, a type of neutron star with extremely strong magnetic fields. The magnetar model best reproduces the supernova's luminosity and the arrival time of its gamma rays.

The study was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics and provides new insights into the inner workings of supernovae. The detection of gamma rays from supernovae opens up a new window for studying these events.

Source: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center