A supernova occurs when a star explodes violently at the end of its life. This Supernova was detected by Japanese astronomer Koichi Itagaki within the spiral arms of the Pinwheel Galaxy. The supernova, named SN 2023ixf, was the closest supernova seen in 5 years.The Pinwheel Galaxy is located about 21 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. The galaxy has about 1 trillion stars and faces the Earth directly. The spiral arms of the galaxy are filled with nebulae displayed in pink light. Blue dots of light in the image taken by the Hawaii telescope also reflect the population of young stars.
Second supernova observed in 15 years
The new supernova glows bright blue in one of the galaxy’s spiral arms in the lower left of the image. Astronomers believe it is a Type II supernova. A type II supernova is defined as the explosion of a massive star eight to 50 times the mass of our sun. This event was recorded as the second supernova observed in the Pinwheel Galaxy in 15 years.
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