• By Charlie Jane Anders
    Jul 27, 2009 11:11 AM 8,903
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    A Supernova Blossoms In A Neighboring Galaxy, And The Shockwave Is Aimed At Earth

    See the blue halo around this supernova? It's blue-shifted because of the Doppler effect, which means it's heading straight for us. And the supernova E0102, in the Small Magellanic Cloud, is only 190,000 light years away. Brace for impact!

    This new image of E0102, from the Chandra Observatory, is leading scientists to believe the supernova's "ejecta" is actually cylinder-shaped, with different "cylinders" of energy moving at different speeds — and we're just viewing it end-on. Here's an X-ray image of E0102, also from Chandra:

    Bigger versions of the images are at the link. [Chandra]


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