Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
This galaxy goes by the name of ESO 162-17 and is located about 40 million light-years away in the constellation of Carina.
At first glance this image seems like a fairly standard picture of a
galaxy with dark patches of dust and bright patches of young, blue
stars. However, a closer look reveals several peculiar features.
Firstly, ESO 162-17 is what is known as a peculiar galaxy
— a galaxy that has gone through interactions with its cosmic
neighbours, resulting in an unusual amount of dust and gas, an irregular
shape, or a strange composition.
Secondly, on 23
February 2010 astronomers observed the supernova known as SN 2010ae
nestled within this galaxy. The supernova belongs to a recently
discovered class of supernovae called Type Iax supernovae. This class of
objects is related to the better known Type-Ia supernovae.
Type
Ia supernovae result when a white dwarf accumulates enough mass either
from a companion or, rarely, through collision with another white dwarf,
to initiate a catastrophic collapse followed by a spectacular explosion
as a supernova. Type Iax supernovae also involve a white dwarf as the
central star, but in this case it may survive the event. Type Iax
supernovae are much fainter and rarer than Type Ia supernovae, and their
exact mechanism is still a matter of open debate.
The rather
beautiful four-pointed shape of foreground stars distributed around ESO
162-17 also draws the eye. This is an optical effect introduced as the
incoming light is diffracted by the four struts that support the Hubble
Space Telescope’s small secondary mirror.
