Overview
- The earliest-phase data capture shows an elongated, axisymmetric blast whose shape could be reconstructed from polarized light.
- As the ejecta expanded and hit surrounding material, the initially elongated profile flattened yet kept a stable symmetry axis.
- FORS2 on ESO’s Very Large Telescope provided the spectropolarimetric measurements, a capability unique in the southern hemisphere.
- SN 2024ggi erupted in galaxy NGC 3621 about 22 million light-years away from a red supergiant roughly 12–15 times the Sun’s mass.
- The results let researchers eliminate or refine several competing models and highlight the need for more early-time spectropolarimetric follow-ups.