Massive-star supernovae are major sources of space dust

Dust particles vonsidered to be building blocks of life

An international team of scientists, including a University of Missouri-Columbia researcher, has discovered the source for previously unaccounted for space dust – Type II supernovae. Space dust particles are considered to be the building blocks of planets and life.

The study, published in the June 8, 2006, edition of Science Express of the journal Science, points to Type II supernovae as major space dust factories. A supernova occurs when a massive star dies and undergoes a thermonuclear explosion expelling stellar material with great force. This is a fairly rare event making it difficult for scientists to study whether space dust is formed in the aftermath. Previously, it was believed that red giant stars formed space dust particles.

"The implication is that supernovae may have contributed significant amounts of dust to the early universe which is important for successive generations of stars and for planet and life formation in the early universe," said Angela Speck, assistant professor of astrophysics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and one of the authors of the study.

During this study, the team was allowed to use NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. They observed a supernova that took place in 2003 in the spiral galaxy Messier 74 which is 30 million light years away. The researcher agreed that this new observation proves that supernovae can make a major contribution to the dust content of the universe.

Researchers have detected many supernovae in the past at visible wavelengths; the one they observed in 2003 is only one of three in the universe that have been seen at infrared wavelengths producing dust. Scientists need extremely sensitive telescopes to study the supernovae. They dim and expand into space quickly, but dust does not start forming until one or two years after the explosion. Astronomers have suspected supernovae of being major space dust factories, but they have been unable to prove it until now because of limited technology.

The team also used the Hubble telescope and the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore and members of the Search for Evolution of Emission from Dust in Supernovae (SEEDS).

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Angela Speck
Department of Physics and Astronomy

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