Using NASA's IXPE space observatory astronomers have mapped polarized X-rays from Cassiopeia A the remains of a massive star that went supernova.
and could no longer support itself against gravitational collapse. As the core of the star collapsed, it triggered a massive supernova and sent these shockwaves through what was once the star's outer layers.
This radiation is polarized by magnetic fields regardless of its wavelength, meaning that encoded within it is information about the magnetic field of the supernova remains from which it originates. Studying the polarization of light from Cas A has enabled astronomers to reverse engineer the processes that are occurring within the supernova remnant at small scales. This has allowed them to gather details about Cas A and its magnetic field that are unobtainable in any other way.Cassiopeia A as imaged by the Chandra X-ray observatory with annotations that mark the polarization vectors of its X-rays as seen by IXPE.
"This study enshrines all the novelties that IXPE brings to astrophysics," said Riccardo Ferrazzoli, study co-author and researcher at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics and Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology in Rome."Not only did we obtain information on X-ray polarization properties for the first time for these sources, but we also know how these change in different regions of the supernova.
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