NASA's Hubble telescope spots images of first-ever supernova explosion

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: NASA`s Hubble Space has caught a glimpse of the first-ever predicted supernova explosion.

Dubbed as Refsdal, has been spotted in the galaxy cluster MACS J1149.5+2223.

According to astronomers, a supernova occurs once every second somewhere in the universe, yet they don't fully understand how stars explode. Refsdal is an example of a stellar explosion caught in the act.

On December 11, astronomers not only imaged a supernova in action, but saw it when and where they had predicted it would be.

The supernova, nicknamed Refsdal, has been spotted in the galaxy cluster MACS J1149.5+2223.

While the light from the cluster has taken about five billion years to reach us, the supernova itself exploded much earlier, nearly 10 billion years ago.

“While studying the supernova, we realised that the galaxy in which it exploded is already known to be a galaxy that is being lensed by the cluster,” explained Steve Rodney, study co-author from University of South Carolina in a NASA statement.

(With Agency inputs)