G350.1-0.3 is a

supernova remnant A supernova remnant (SNR) is the structure resulting from the explosion of a star in a supernova. The supernova remnant is bounded by an expanding shock wave, and consists of ejected material expanding from the explosion, and the interstellar mat ...

which is located in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

Scorpius Scorpius is a zodiac constellation located in the Southern celestial hemisphere, where it sits near the center of the Milky Way, between Libra to the west and Sagittarius to the east. Scorpius is an ancient constellation whose recognition pred ...

. It is in the

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

, and possibly associated with a

neutron star A neutron star is the gravitationally collapsed Stellar core, core of a massive supergiant star. It results from the supernova explosion of a stellar evolution#Massive star, massive star—combined with gravitational collapse—that compresses ...

(XMMU J172054.5-372652) formed in the same

supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

explosion. The object was formerly mistakenly classified as a distant

galaxy A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...

. G350.1-0.3, a bright radio source in the inner Milky Way, was initially identified by comparing observations from the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope and

Parkes Observatory Parkes Observatory is a radio astronomy observatory, located north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. It hosts Murriyang, the 64 m CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope also known as "The Dish", along with two smaller radio telescopes. T ...

and classified as a supernova remnant in publications from 1973 and 1975. However, later higher-resolution images in the mid-80s revealed an unexpected irregular morphology that differed substantially from other supernova remnant sources. It was then argued that G350.1-0.3 was a

radio galaxy A radio galaxy is a galaxy with giant regions of radio emission extending well beyond its visible structure. These energetic radio lobes are powered by jets from its active galactic nucleus. They have luminosities up to 1039 W at radio wav ...

or a

galaxy cluster A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. Clusters consist of galax ...

, resulting in a reclassification in which supernova remnant catalogues downgraded the object to "supernova remnant candidate" or dropped it completely; G350.1-0.3 was subsequently "forgotten". Research published in 2008 combined archival data and new images from

XMM-Newton ''XMM-Newton'', also known as the High Throughput X-ray Spectroscopy Mission and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission, is an X-ray space observatory launched by the European Space Agency in December 1999 on an Ariane 5 rocket. It is the second corners ...

, the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

's orbiting x-ray telescope, to demonstrate that G350.1-0.3 is a supernova remnant. The researchers determined that the object's odd shape resulted from exploding next to a dense gas cloud, approximately 15,000

light year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year (ly or lyr), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distance, astronomical distances and is equal to exactly , which is approximately 9.46 trillion km or 5.88 trillion mi. As defined by t ...

s from Earth, that prevented even expansion and produced its elongated shape. The researchers also determined that the nearby thermal

X-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

source, XMMU J172054.5-372652, is a central compact object of the supernova. G350.1-0.3 is eight light years across and about 900–1000 years old, making one of the youngest and brightest supernova remnants in the Milky Way. It is unlikely that humans would have seen the supernova explosion because intervening interstellar dust would have likely prevented its viewing from Earth.

References

External links

*{{Cite podcast , url=https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/scienceshow/supernovae-and-the-fusing-of-elements/3174486 , title=Supernovae and the fusing of elements , website=The Science Show , publisher=

ABC Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

, last=Williams , first=Robyn , date=2008-11-22 , language=en-AU , access-date=2024-09-06 Supernova remnants Scorpius