Life’s Building Blocks Can Survive a Supernova

Here’s a cool photograph of supernova remnant N132D. It’s actually a composite image, made up of pictures gathered by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The remnant is located approximately 163,000 light-years away in the neighbouring galaxy: the Large Magellanic Cloud.

An interesting discovery in this research is that one of life’s building blocks, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), seem to survive the supernova explosion. These carbon and hydrogen compounds are true space survivors; they’re found in comets, in star-forming regions and planetary disks, and now… in supernovae.

Original Source: Chandra News Release

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast with Dr. Pamela Gay. Here's a link to my Mastodon account.

Recent Posts

New Supercomputer Simulation Explains How Mars Got Its Moons

One mystery in planetary science is a satisfying origin story for Mars's moons, Phobos and…

41 minutes ago

The Early Universe May Have Had Giant Batteries of Dust

The largest magnetic fields in the universe may have found themselves charged up when the…

5 hours ago

The First Close-Up Picture of Star Outside the Milky Way

Like a performer preparing for their big finale, a distant star is shedding its outer…

20 hours ago

Here’s What We Know About Earth’s Temporary Mini-Moon

For a little over a month now, the Earth has been joined by a new…

21 hours ago

New Study Suggests Black Holes Get their “Hair” from their Mothers

Despite decades of study, black holes are still one of the most puzzling objects in…

22 hours ago

Gaze at New Pictures of the Sun from Solar Orbiter

74 million kilometres is a huge distance from which to observe something. But 74 million…

22 hours ago