
Plumes rose as high as 4.5 miles (7.3 kilometers). On April 14, 2023, when this image was acquired by Landsat 8, monitoring systems detected water vapor, volcanic gases, and ash coming from the volcano. On Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. Popocatpetl, one of Mexico’s most active volcanoes, has been erupting since 2005. Studying such a close and young Type II supernova may yield new clues about massive stars and how they explode.įollow HT Tech for the latest tech news and reviews, also keep up with us SN 2023ixf will likely brighten and remain visible to telescopes for months. The featured image shows home spiral galaxy two days ago with the supernova highlighted, while the roll-over image shows the same galaxy a month before. Rapid follow up observations already indicate that SN 2023ixf is a Type II supernova, an explosion that occurs after a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel and collapses. SN 2023ixf occurred in the photogenic Pinwheel Galaxy M101, which, being only about 21 million light years away, makes it the closest supernova seen in the past five years, the second closest in the past 10 years, and the second supernova found in M101 in the past 15 years. The supernova, dubbed SN 2023ixf, was discovered by Japanese astronomer Koichi Itagaki three days ago and subsequently located on automated images from the Zwicky Transient Facility two days earlier.

NASA's description of the pictureĪfter this nearby star exploded, humanity's telescopes quickly turned to monitor it. The picture was captured by astrophotographer Craig Stocks.
