Astronomers Discover Extremely Warped Supernova — 12 June 2023

'Cosmic magnifying glass' reveals super-rare warped supernova with gravitational lens. — 12 June 2023.

In a rare and astounding discovery, astronomers have found an incredibly warped supernova that provides insights into stellar explosions, hidden galaxies, and the expansion of the universe.

The researchers observed a distant galaxy that acts as a gravitational lens, warping space like a cosmic magnifying glass. As the light from a faraway supernova passed by this lens, it was magnified up to 25 times and split into four images, following the contours of the warped space.

Dubbed "SN Zwicky," the supernova belongs to the type LA category and exploded over four billion light-years away. It was first detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at Caltech's Palomar Observatory. Follow-up observations were conducted using various telescopes, revealing intriguing details.

Two of the supernova's images appeared brighter than expected, possibly due to smaller gravitational lenses within the lensing galaxy. These micro lenses offer insights into the distribution of mass within the galaxy's core.

SN Zwicky, being a "standard candle," allows astronomers to estimate distances in space based on its known luminosity. This provides valuable data for understanding the expansion of the universe.

While the time delay between the supernova's images was too short to measure the Hubble Constant accurately, it remains an area of interest for future lensed supernova observations.

The discovery also sheds light on the lensing galaxy itself. Its faintness and relatively low mass suggest the existence of other undetected, distant galaxies.

This groundbreaking finding opens new possibilities for future research. The upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, equipped with a powerful survey telescope, aims to scan the entire sky in high resolution repeatedly, potentially uncovering more lensed supernovas and deepening our understanding of the cosmos.

Each discovery brings us closer to unraveling the mysteries of the universe. The highly warped supernova, SN Zwicky, adds another intriguing chapter to our ongoing quest for knowledge about the cosmos.