NASA Discovers Evidence of Multiple Supernovas in Nearby Galaxy

Observations from multiple telescopes reveal at least two supernovas in the supernova remnant 30 Doradus B, providing new insights into the lives of massive stars.

NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the Blanco 4-meter telescope in Chile, the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope and Hubble have discovered evidence of at least two supernovas in the supernova remnant 30 Doradus B (30 Dor B) in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighbor galaxy of our Milky Way.
The discovery was made possible by detecting a shell of X-Rays rippling out from the remnant that stretches 130 light-years across and evidence of a pulsar — a husk of a dead star that throws off jets of particles as it spins.
The shell is far too big to have come from the one supernova that they knew made 30 Dor B 5,000 years ago, suggesting several supernovas have happened within the region in the past.
The larger, faint shell of X-rays is too big to have resulted from the same supernova that resulted in the pulsar and the bright X-rays seen in the center of 30 Dor B.
The research can help astronomers learn more about the lives of massive stars, and the effects of their supernova explosions.