麻豆传媒

One of the nearest Type II supernovae in a decade and among the brightest to date, SN 2023ixf is a young supernova, discovered earlier this year by amateur astronomer K艒ichi Itagaki of Yamagata, Japan. This artist鈥檚 conception shows the bright explosion of SN 2023ixf, which occurred after an unexpected amount of mass loss unlike anything astronomers have seen before.

Captured using the 1.2m telescope at CfA鈥檚 Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on June 27, 2023, just over a month after SN 2023ixf鈥檚 progenitor star exploded, the image in this composite combines together green, red, near-infrared and infrared light to highlight both SN 2023ixf and the Pinwheel Galaxy. SN 2023ixf is located in one of the spiral arms of the galaxy, as expected for the explosions of massive stars.