International scientists have uncovered new clues about the supernova remnant called Tycho.
The findings shed light on how conditions in the shock waves caused by titantic stellar explosions – known as supernovae – accelerate particles to near the speed of light.
Astronomers used NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer to look at polarized X-rays from the Tycho supernova remnant. NASA said the star's explosion was discovered 450 years ago.
For the first time, IXPE revealed the geometry to the magnetic fields close to the shock wave, which is still propagating from the initial explosion and forms a boundary around the ejected material.
