Chandra Finds Rare Supernova Remnant in Milky Way’s Center

Sagittarius A East (Sgr A East), a supernova remnant located strikingly close to the central supermassive black hole of our Milky Way Galaxy, resulted from a rare type of stellar explosion known as Type Iax supernova, according to a new analysis of data gathered by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

The discovery adds to the understanding of how some stars shatter and seed the Universe with elements critical for life as we known it.

Type Ia supernovae are produced by white dwarfs, the condensed remnant of what used to be Sun-like stars.

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Image credit: NASA / CXC / Nanjing University / Zhou et al. / NSF / NRAO / VLA.

This composite image contains data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) and the NSF’s Very Large Array (red) of Sgr A East.

This object is located very close to the supermassive black hole in the Milky Way’s center, and likely overruns the disk of material surrounding the black hole.

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A debris field near the center of the Milky Way may have a surprise.

Astronomers think that a rare type of explosion caused this supernova remnant.

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory revealed clues in the stellar ashes.

This discovery helps teach us more about how certain stars can explode.