Concentric Triple-Bubble Supernova Nested Much Like The Russian Matryoshka Dolls Spotted In Space

Astronomers discovered three supernova remnants nested much like the Russian matryoshka dolls during their observation of the M33 galaxy. That, which is also referred to as Triangulum galaxy, is the third largest member of the local group. The said discovery could lead to the study of star formation and the supernova explosions.

Stacking Dolls in #Space: Concentric Supernova Remnant Bubbles Surround Star Cluster https://t.co/XlgrRbIQjr#socool pic.twitter.com/w99KvPcfkh

— G. S. Jennsen (@GSJennsen) July 25, 2016

The results of the study were printed in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The study was led by researchers from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), according to Space.

Researchers said that the concentric bubbles, which comprise of the triple-bubble, are actually three supernova remnants, the shell of gas and dust that form following the explosion of a star. This is the first time the scientists discovered three supernova remnants nesting one inside the other.

Researchers used high-resolution 2D spectrograph GHaFas (Galaxy Halpha Fabry-Perot System) that was mounted on the William Herschel Telescopes to uncover the triple-bubble supernova. The bubbles are of different sizes from a few light years to a thousand light-years across, according to Room Space Journal.

John Beckman, one of the co-authors of the study, said that this phenomenon allows exploring the interstellar medium in a unique way. They can measure how much matter there is in a shell, approximately a couple of hundred times the mass of the sun in each of the shells.

Meanwhile, Artemi Camps Farina, another author of the study explained that it must be that the interstellar medium is not at all uniform; there must be dense clumps of gas, surrounded by space with gas at a much lower density. He further explained that the supernova does not just sweep up gas. It evaporates the outside the clumps. This leaves some dense gas behind which can make the second and third shells.

He added that the presence of bubbles explains why the star formation is much slower than the simple models of galaxy evolution that are foreseen. The bubbles are a part of widespread feedback process in galaxy disc. If it were not for feedback, the spiral galaxies would have very short lives and the existence of humans would be improbable, according to Farina.