Supernova remnant

A supernova remnant (English supernova remnant, SNR short ) is an emission nebula, caused by a supernova and often has a shell structure.

The energy released in a supernova energy is delivered to 99 % as neutrino radiation, which hardly interacts with matter; by the remaining percent of the outer layers of the progenitor star are greatly accelerated. The resulting supersonic shock wave of stellar material is spreading at an approximately constant speed of about 10,000 km / s, well into the interstellar medium and heats up to 107-108 K. In this free expansion phase, which lasts for about 200 years, the SNR reaches a size of about 10 light years. This is followed by a 10,000 -year-long radiation phase.

Supernova remnants often show a shell structure, as further shock waves can be triggered by matter falling on the compact remnant. These additional outbreaks can occur even centuries later.

Perhaps the most famous and bestbeobachtete remnant is Supernova 1987A, which comes from a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Other well-known supernova remnants are 3C10 named as a relic of Braheschen supernova, a remnant according to Tycho Brahe, who recorded the brightness of the explosion in 1572; and Kepler's SNR ( supernova 1604).

In contrast, it is in the Crab Nebula, the remnant of the supernova in 1054, not a supernova remnant in the true sense. It has not yet succeeded in proving the shell in the radio band, which was ejected during supernova explosion. The Crab Nebula is a pulsar wind nebula in which the matter is torn by electromagnetic forces from the neutron star and accelerated to nearly the speed of light.