Cassiopeia A: I'm Not Dead Yet

[Tuckerfan]

Yes you are. You’ll be stone cold in a moment.

An echo has been detected around a star that died 325 years ago. The reverberation—emanating out in light, not sound waves—implies that the stellar remnant let out a burst of energy some 50 years ago.

The dead star in question is Cassiopeia A, whose explosion or supernova was witnessed by Tycho Brahe in 1572. Situated 10,000 light years away, astronomers believe a dense neutron star is all that is left of the original star.

This neutron star remnant was thought to be resting in peace, that is, until this recent discovery of a light echo in infrared images taken by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

“We had thought the stellar remains inside Cassiopeia A were just fading away,” said Oliver Krause of the University of Arizona. “Spitzer came along and showed us this exploded star, one of the most intensively studied objects in the sky, is still undergoing death throes before heading to its final grave.”

[Kythereia]

snerk!

Best use of Monty Python ever.

[FatBaldGuy]

An echo has been detected around a star that died 325 years ago. The reverberation—emanating out in light, not sound waves—implies that the stellar remnant let out a burst of energy some 50 years ago.

The dead star in question is Cassiopeia A, whose explosion or supernova was witnessed by Tycho Brahe in 1572. Situated 10,000 light years away, astronomers believe a dense neutron star is all that is left of the original star.

Shouldn’t that say “died 10,325 years ago” and “let out a b urst of energy some 10,050 years ago?”

[NE_Texan]

Here’s the part I don’t get. 1572 + 325 = 1897. It says the explosion was in 1572, but if it died 325 years ago (10K years notwithstanding, though FBG is right), it would have died in 1680, no?

[rpinrd]

FBG and NET that was driving me f’ing nuts when I read that article yesterday. I kept expecting some parenthetical explaining that, what looked like a burst of energy 50 years ago actually happened 10,050 years ago, but no such luck.

As for your question NET, taking a WAG, maybe the difference is in the definition of “death.” I imagine stars’ death scenes aren’t short or even Shakespearian, but extend over hundreds of years. So what Brahe saw in 1572 was the start of the death that did not conclude until 1680?

[NE_Texan]

I’m picturing Cassiopeia in a Monty Python skit: “I’m not dead yet…” and so forth.