Cosmic “Dust” from Supernovae Hints at How Stars Are Born PRESS RELEASE DATE June 13, 2022 CONTACT Rebecca McDonald Director of Communications SETI Institute rmcdonald@SETI.org June 13, 2022, Mountain View, CA – New research detected strong polarization...
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Cosmic “Dust” from Supernovae Hints at How Stars Are Born PRESS RELEASE DATE June 13, 2022 CONTACT Rebecca McDonald Director of Communications SETI Institute rmcdonald@SETI.org June 13, 2022, Mountain View, CA – New research detected strong polarization Jeonghee Rho from a young supernova remnant. It provided independent and solid evidence Research Scientist that the cosmic dust in the early Universe was formed in supernovae. While it’s SETI Institute true that supernovae eject and destroy cosmic dust, infrared observations now jrho@seti.org suggest that the dust formed at an early stage of a supernova. SOFIA HAWC+ (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy High-Resolution Airborne Wideband Camera Plus) Band D observations of the young supernova remnant (SNR) Cassiopeia A (Cas A) show high polarization at the 5-30% level. This polarization indicates: • Polarized dust emission detected in far-infrared belongs to the SNR, and supernovae are producers of a large mass of dust (some
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