Links: NASA Press Release: 10-025 / NASA - SWIFT Mission Pages /

When the average person thinks about supernovae or black holes, they probably couldn't even imagine that some supernovae may be powered by newborn black holes or neutron stars at their hearts. Observations made by several space- and ground-based observatories, including NASA's SWIFT satellite, the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array in Socorro, N.M., the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, and the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network have all apparently confirmed this discovery.

(In March 2009, NASA's Swift observed the supernova SN 2009bb in the spiral galaxy NGC 3278. The explosion is apparent in visible light, but not at ultraviolet and X-ray energies, and satellites recorded no gamma-ray burst. Nevertheless, particle jets reaching 85 percent of the speed of light accompanied the explosion. Image Credit: NASA, Swift, Stefan Immler)

WASHINGTON -- Astronomers studying two exploding stars, or supernovae, have found evidence the blasts received an extra boost from newborn black holes. The supernovae were found to emit jets of particles traveling at more than half the speed of light.

Previously, the only catastrophic events known to produce such high-speed jets were gamma-ray bursts, the universe's most luminous explosions. Supernovae and the most common type of gamma-ray bursts occur when massive stars run out of nuclear fuel and collapse. A neutron star or black hole forms at the star's core, triggering a massive explosion that destroys the rest of the star.

"The explosion dynamics in typical supernovae limit the speed of the expanding matter to about three percent the speed of light", explained Chryssa Kouveliotou, an astrophysicst at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., co-author of one of the new studies. "Yet, in these new objects, we're tracking gas moving some 20 times faster than this."

The new results, published in this week's edition of the journal Nature, used observations from several space and ground-based observatories, including NASA's SWIFT satellite.

The astronomers discovered the ultrafast debris by studying two supernovae at radio wavelengths using numerous facilities, including the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array in Socorro, N.M., and the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. One team used the real-time operating mode of the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network, an international collaboration of radio telescopes, to rapidly analyze data.

(Source: NASA)