Cosmic objects could often hide exciting insights. The wonders of our Universe are always waiting to be revealed, and they never seem to end. Although the observable Universe is about 96 billion light-years across, there is strong scientific evidence that the totality of matter, space, and time can be at least thousands of times more prevalent. Not to mention that if the String Theory is correct, there are many other universes that together form the Multiverse.
Supernova 1987A has captured the attention of astronomers for many years. Observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and a theoretical study are providing extra evidence that there’s a young neutron star hiding within the supernova.
Beware for the blob
Observations from the ALMA radio telescope granted the first evidence for the hypothetical neutron star. By capturing extremely high-resolution images, a hot blob was spotted in the core of SN 1987A. Mikako Matsuura from Cardiff University said:
We were very surprised to see this warm blob made by a thick cloud of dust in the supernova remnant,
There has to be something in the cloud that has heated up the dust and which makes it shine. That’s why we suggested that there is a neutron star hiding inside the dust cloud.
While the scientists first thought that the neutron star could be too bright to exist, further study contradicted them. Dany Page, an astrophysicist from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, along with his team invoked the very young age of the neutron star as an argument that it can indeed be as bright as it is.
A direct picture of the neutron star is still needed to provide irrefutable proof that the cosmic object exists. But for the moment, the dust and gas from the supernova remnant are representing significant hindrances.
The theoretical study done by Page and his colleagues was published in The Astrophysical Journal.
