Explanation: Telescopes around the world are tracking a bright supernova that occurred in a nearby dusty galaxy. The powerful stellar explosion was first noted earlier this month. The nearby galaxy is the photogenic
Centaurus A, visible with binoculars and known for impressive filaments of
light-absorbing dust that cross its center. Cen A is featured here in a
high-resolution archival
Hubble Space Telescope image, with an inset image featuring the
supernovataken from the ground only two days after discovery. Designated
SN2016adj, the supernova is highlighted with crosshairs in the inset, appearing just to the left of a bright foreground star in our
Milky Way Galaxy. This
supernova is currently thought to be of
Type IIb, a
stellar-core-collapse supernova, and is of high interest because it occurred
so nearby and because it is being seen through a known dust filament. Current and future observations of
this supernovamay give us new clues about the fates of massive stars and how some
elements found on our Earth were formed.
