Liam O'Dell
24s
coffeekai/iStock
Scientists have found a new, almost perfectly spherical object in space, prompting new questions about supernovas.
The object, nicknamed Teleios “due to its symmetry” (it’s taken from the Greek word for ‘perfect’), was picked up on the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope, with details published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia earlier this month.
The research paper from the study team, which lists Miroslav Filipovic of Western Sydney University as its lead author, reads: “Teleios is exclusively seen at radio-continuum frequencies. Interestingly, Teleios is not only almost perfectly symmetric, but it also has one of the lowest surface brightnesses discovered among Galactic SNRs.”
Galactic SNRs are galactic supernova remnants, by the way – basically, remains ejected during the explosion of a star.
Filipovic shared more information about Teleios in an article for The Conversationback in March, when he wrote: “This unique object has never been seen in any wavelength, including visible light, demonstrating ASKAP’s incredible ability to discover new objects.
“The shape indicates Teleios has remained relatively untouched by its environment. This presents us with an opportunity to make inferences about the initial supernova explosion, providing rare insight into one of the most energetic events in the universe.”
Pretty cool, huh?
And it’s not the only interesting discovery made by scientists recently, with academics also finding mysterious giant structures beneath the surface of Mars and that Earth’s earliest oceans weren’t actually blue.
Why not read…
- Scientists discover creature 'beyond imagination' encased in amber
- Students get the "ick" as AI announces their names at graduation
Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
Top 100
The Conversation (0)