Scientists surmised that SN 1006’s unique structure is tied to the orientation of its magnetic field, and theorized that supernova blast waves in the northeast and southwest move in the direction aligned with the magnetic field, and more efficiently accelerate high-energy particles. Previous X-ray observations of SN 1006 offered the first evidence that supernova remnants can radically accelerate electrons, and helped identify rapidly expanding nebulae around exploded stars as a birthplace for highly energetic cosmic rays, which can travel at nearly the speed of the light. “This integrated capability is essential to localizing cosmic-ray acceleration sites.” “Close-proximity, X-ray-bright supernova remnants such as SN 1006 are ideally suited to IXPE measurements, given IXPE’s combination of X-ray polarization sensitivity with the capability to resolve the emission regions spatially,” said Douglas Swartz, a Universities Space Research Association researcher at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. It also has bright “limbs” or edges identifiable in the X-ray and gamma-ray bands. Since modern observation began, researchers have identified the remnant’s strange double structure, markedly different from other, rounded supernova remnants. Modern astronomers still consider it the brightest stellar event in recorded history. Initially spotted in spring of 1006 CE by observers across China, Japan, Europe, and the Arab world, its light was visible to the naked eye for at least three years. Situated some 6,500 light-years from Earth in the Lupus constellation, SN 1006 is all that remains after a titanic explosion, which occurred either when two white dwarfs merged or when a white dwarf pulled too much mass from a companion star. “Now we can see that SN 1006’s magnetic fields are turbulent, but also present an organized direction.” Ping Zhou, an astrophysicist at Nanjing University in Jiangsu, China, and lead author of a new paper on the findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal. “Magnetic fields are extremely difficult to measure, but IXPE provides an efficient way for us to probe them,” said Dr. The new results expand scientists’ understanding of the relationship between magnetic fields and the flow of high-energy particles from exploding stars. NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) telescope has captured the first polarized X-ray imagery of the supernova remnant SN 1006. (IXPE) IR: NASA/JPL/CalTech/Spitzer Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J.Schmidt X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO (Chandra) NASA/MSFC/Nanjing Univ./P.
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