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Back Galaxy NGC 3982

Galaxy NGC 3982


Date: 24 September 2003
Depicts: NGC 3982
Copyright: Image credit: European Space Agency and Stephen Smartt (University of Cambridge)

A team of European astronomers is using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to look back in time. They have imaged the spiral galaxy NGC 3982 and hundreds of other galaxies in the hope that one of the millions of stars in these images will some day explode as a supernova. They can then look back and pinpoint the exact star that has exploded. Only two such supernova 'mother stars' have ever been identified.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
13-Feb-2026 11:19 UT

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