Gamma rays detected by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope gave scientists a look under the hood of a rare supernova that produced much more light than normal.
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Music credits:
\"Granular Game\" by John Bisset
\"In The Zone\" by Daniel Migdal, Jonas Pomo
\"Ornaments\" by Lisa Van Hal ",
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"description": "An analysis of data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope concludes the mission detected a rare, unusually luminous supernova that, researchers say, likely received its power-up from a magnetar born in the stellar collapse that triggered the explosion.
Astronomers have searched Fermi data for gamma-ray signals from thousands of supernovae, but none were definitive until now.
Core-collapse supernovae occur when the energy-producing center of a star many times our Sun’s mass runs out of fuel, collapses under its own weight, and explodes. During the collapse, a city-sized neutron star or an even smaller black hole may form. A blast wave blows away the rest of the star, which rapidly expands as a hot, dense cloud of ionized gas.
In the last couple of decades, astronomers have identified nearly 400 exceptional core-collapse supernovae. Each of these events, dubbed superluminous supernovae, produced 10 or more times the amount of visible light normally seen.
In 2024, a study noted that Fermi’s Large Area Telescope may have seen gamma rays from a superluminous supernova called SN 2017egm.
The supercharged outburst occurred in galaxy NGC 3191, located about 440 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Even at this distance, the explosion remains one of the closest of its type to us on Earth. The new research confirms that Fermi saw the explosion, opening a new window for studying these events.
What makes these explosions brighter than normal supernovae? Theorists think it’s the formation of a magnetar, a type of neutron star with the strongest magnetic fields known — up to 1,000 times the intensity of typical neutron stars. That’s 10 trillion times stronger than a refrigerator magnet.
Scientists expect a newly formed magnetar to spin a few hundred times a second. This rapid rotation produces a strong outflow of electrons and positrons, their antimatter counterparts, that forms a vast cloud of energetic particles.
Within this cloud — called a magnetar wind nebula — various interactions fuel the production and absorption of gamma rays, the most energetic form of light. Unable to escape directly, the gamma rays become reprocessed, downshifted into lower-energy visible light that provides the supernova with its extra boost of light.
The study shows that a magnetar model best reproduces both the supernova’s luminosity and the arrival time of its gamma rays during the first months, but after that time, additional processes may be needed to account for the supernova’s irregularly fading visible light.",
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"description": "This composite image shows two views of SN 2017egm, in visible light (inset) and gamma rays (background). The optical image shows the supernova — the brightest object in the scene — and its host galaxy on July 1, 2017. The background map shows a wide area of the sky surrounding the supernova’s position. Brighter colors indicate greater statistical likelihood that gamma rays are associated with the explosion. The map includes gamma rays detected by Fermi’s Large Area Telescope from July 5, 2017, to Oct. 25, 2017, or from 43 to 155 days after the supernova was discovered.
Credit: Background, NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration and Acero et. al. 2026; inset, NOT+ALFSOC/Bose et al. 2020
Alt text: Composite showing optical and gamma-ray observations of SN 2017egm
Image description: On a deep blue background, irregular blobs pepper the image in lighter shades of blue, and at the top and right side, some red as well. The largest blob, just below center, has a yellow core rimmed first in red and then in blue. A label reads “SN 2017egm.” A faint yellow wedge with its apex centered on this blob extends toward the upper left. It encloses a photograph speckled with digital noise that shows a face-on spiral galaxy in yellows and grays bearing a large, circular, whitish source left of its center. There are scale bars in both images. The background bar has text reading “30 arcminutes” — about the apparent size of a full moon — and the inset’s bar has text reading “10 arcseconds,” representing a size 180 times smaller than the background’s bar.
", "items": [ { "id": 521480, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1203895, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a015000/a015041/sigmap_optical_montage_print.jpg", "filename": "sigmap_optical_montage_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This composite image shows two views of SN 2017egm, in visible light (inset) and gamma rays (background). The optical image shows the supernova — the brightest object in the scene — and its host galaxy on July 1, 2017. The background map shows a wide area of the sky surrounding the supernova’s position. Brighter colors indicate greater statistical likelihood that gamma rays are associated with the explosion. The map includes gamma rays detected by Fermi’s Large Area Telescope from July 5, 2017, to Oct. 25, 2017, or from 43 to 155 days after the supernova was discovered. Credit: Background, NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration and Acero et. al. 2026; inset, NOT+ALFSOC/Bose et al. 2020Alt text: Composite showing optical and gamma-ray observations of SN 2017egmImage description: On a deep blue background, irregular blobs pepper the image in lighter shades of blue, and at the top and right side, some red as well. The largest blob, just below center, has a yellow core rimmed first in red and then in blue. A label reads “SN 2017egm.” A faint yellow wedge with its apex centered on this blob extends toward the upper left. It encloses a photograph speckled with digital noise that shows a face-on spiral galaxy in yellows and grays bearing a large, circular, whitish source left of its center. There are scale bars in both images. The background bar has text reading “30 arcminutes” — about the apparent size of a full moon — and the inset’s bar has text reading “10 arcseconds,” representing a size 180 times smaller than the background’s bar. 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Credit: Background, NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration and Acero et. al. 2026; inset, NOT+ALFSOC/Bose et al. 2020Alt text: Composite showing optical and gamma-ray observations of SN 2017egmImage description: On a deep blue background, irregular blobs pepper the image in lighter shades of blue, and at the top and right side, some red as well. The largest blob, just below center, has a yellow core rimmed first in red and then in blue. A label reads “SN 2017egm.” A faint yellow wedge with its apex centered on this blob extends toward the upper left. It encloses a photograph speckled with digital noise that shows a face-on spiral galaxy in yellows and grays bearing a large, circular, whitish source left of its center. There are scale bars in both images. The background bar has text reading “30 arcminutes” — about the apparent size of a full moon — and the inset’s bar has text reading “10 arcseconds,” representing a size 180 times smaller than the background’s bar. ", "width": 3655, "height": 3516, "pixels": 12850980 } }, { "id": 521479, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1203888, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a015000/a015041/sigmap_optical_montage.png", "filename": "sigmap_optical_montage.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This composite image shows two views of SN 2017egm, in visible light (inset) and gamma rays (background). The optical image shows the supernova — the brightest object in the scene — and its host galaxy on July 1, 2017. The background map shows a wide area of the sky surrounding the supernova’s position. Brighter colors indicate greater statistical likelihood that gamma rays are associated with the explosion. The map includes gamma rays detected by Fermi’s Large Area Telescope from July 5, 2017, to Oct. 25, 2017, or from 43 to 155 days after the supernova was discovered. Credit: Background, NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration and Acero et. al. 2026; inset, NOT+ALFSOC/Bose et al. 2020Alt text: Composite showing optical and gamma-ray observations of SN 2017egmImage description: On a deep blue background, irregular blobs pepper the image in lighter shades of blue, and at the top and right side, some red as well. The largest blob, just below center, has a yellow core rimmed first in red and then in blue. A label reads “SN 2017egm.” A faint yellow wedge with its apex centered on this blob extends toward the upper left. It encloses a photograph speckled with digital noise that shows a face-on spiral galaxy in yellows and grays bearing a large, circular, whitish source left of its center. There are scale bars in both images. The background bar has text reading “30 arcminutes” — about the apparent size of a full moon — and the inset’s bar has text reading “10 arcseconds,” representing a size 180 times smaller than the background’s bar. ", "width": 2668, "height": 2160, "pixels": 5762880 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 380313, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/15041/#media_group_380313", "widget": "Single image", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "The superluminous supernova SN 2017egm was discovered by the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission on May 23, 2017. It exploded in a massive barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 3191, shown on the left before the eruption. The image at right, taken on July 1, 2017, shows the supernova outshining the entire galaxy.
Credit: Left, SDSS and PS1; right, NOT+ALFSOC/Bose et al. 2020
Alt text: NGC 3191 before and after SN 2017egm
Image description: Two pictures of a galaxy appear side by side, with the image at right speckled with digital noise and shown in yellows and grays instead of the more vibrant blues of the left photo. In the right image, a bright source — essentially a large white circle — has appeared to the left of the galaxy’s yellowish core, outshining the whole galaxy.
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Credit: SDSS and PS1
Alt text: NGC 3191 before SN 2017egm
Image description: A face-on spiral galaxy with an off-white central core and thick blue-gray arcing arms appears against the blackness of space. ", "items": [ { "id": 521484, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1203893, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a015000/a015041/SLSN_N319_before_SDSS_PS1.jpg", "filename": "SLSN_N319_before_SDSS_PS1.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A massive barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 3191 was host to superluminous supernova SN 2017egm, seen here before the explosion.Credit: SDSS and PS1Alt text: NGC 3191 before SN 2017egmImage description: A face-on spiral galaxy with an off-white central core and thick blue-gray arcing arms appears against the blackness of space. ", "width": 1277, "height": 1278, "pixels": 1632006 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 380315, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/15041/#media_group_380315", "widget": "Single image", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "The massive barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 3191 as seen on July 1, 2017, during the eruption of superluminous supernova SN 2017egm. The explosion was discovered by ESA's (European Space Agency's) Gaia mission on May 23, 2017.
Credit: NOT+ALFSOC/Bose et al. 2020
Alt text: NGC 3191 after SN 2017egm
Image description: An image of a face-on galaxy shown in yellows and grays is speckled with digital noise, which gives the background a mottled look. A bright source essentially a large white circle tinged with blue appears to the left of the galaxy’s yellowish core, outshining the whole galaxy.
", "items": [ { "id": 521485, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1203894, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a015000/a015041/SLSN_N319_during_NOT_ALFSOCBose_et_al_2020.jpg", "filename": "SLSN_N319_during_NOT_ALFSOCBose_et_al_2020.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The massive barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 3191 as seen on July 1, 2017, during the eruption of superluminous supernova SN 2017egm. The explosion was discovered by ESA's (European Space Agency's) Gaia mission on May 23, 2017. Credit: NOT+ALFSOC/Bose et al. 2020Alt text: NGC 3191 after SN 2017egmImage description: An image of a face-on galaxy shown in yellows and grays is speckled with digital noise, which gives the background a mottled look. A bright source essentially a large white circle tinged with blue appears to the left of the galaxy’s yellowish core, outshining the whole galaxy.", "width": 1277, "height": 1278, "pixels": 1632006 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 380319, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/15041/#media_group_380319", "widget": "Single image", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "The Crab Nebula formed in a supernova explosion observed in 1054. At its heart lies an isolated neutron star, the crushed core of the original star. It spins about 30 times a second, sweeping a beam of radiation toward Earth with every rotation, lighthouse style, which classifies the neutron star as a pulsar. This rapid spin powers X-ray jets (elongated blue-white feature near center) and a high-speed outflow of electrons and other particles. The particles collect in a vast cloud-like structure called a pulsar wind nebula, which also forms around magnetars, the pulsar’s supermagnetized cousin. This emission gradually slows the neutron star’s spin. These images combine X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (bluish white) and infrared data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
Credit: X-ray, Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO; Infrared, Webb: NASA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major
Alt text: X-ray and infrared composite of the Crab Nebula
Image description: Against a starry background lies a colorful, roughly elliptical cloud taking up most of the frame. Its outer edges are formed by gray, red, and yellow loops and tendrils, parts of which seem to be outward-moving splashes and rivulets of color. The inner area is filled with a faint bluish glow that brightens toward the center. Brighter bluish-white rings make up a kind of bull’s-eye surrounding the pulsar, and an elongated structure curves diagonally downward.
", "items": [ { "id": 521487, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1203890, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a015000/a015041/timelapse_crab_nebula_print.jpg", "filename": "timelapse_crab_nebula_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The Crab Nebula formed in a supernova explosion observed in 1054. At its heart lies an isolated neutron star, the crushed core of the original star. It spins about 30 times a second, sweeping a beam of radiation toward Earth with every rotation, lighthouse style, which classifies the neutron star as a pulsar. This rapid spin powers X-ray jets (elongated blue-white feature near center) and a high-speed outflow of electrons and other particles. The particles collect in a vast cloud-like structure called a pulsar wind nebula, which also forms around magnetars, the pulsar’s supermagnetized cousin. This emission gradually slows the neutron star’s spin. 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", "width": 1024, "height": 895, "pixels": 916480 } }, { "id": 521486, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1203889, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a015000/a015041/timelapse_crab_nebula.png", "filename": "timelapse_crab_nebula.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The Crab Nebula formed in a supernova explosion observed in 1054. At its heart lies an isolated neutron star, the crushed core of the original star. It spins about 30 times a second, sweeping a beam of radiation toward Earth with every rotation, lighthouse style, which classifies the neutron star as a pulsar. This rapid spin powers X-ray jets (elongated blue-white feature near center) and a high-speed outflow of electrons and other particles. The particles collect in a vast cloud-like structure called a pulsar wind nebula, which also forms around magnetars, the pulsar’s supermagnetized cousin. This emission gradually slows the neutron star’s spin. These images combine X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (bluish white) and infrared data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.Credit: X-ray, Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO; Infrared, Webb: NASA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. MajorAlt text: X-ray and infrared composite of the Crab NebulaImage description: Against a starry background lies a colorful, roughly elliptical cloud taking up most of the frame. Its outer edges are formed by gray, red, and yellow loops and tendrils, parts of which seem to be outward-moving splashes and rivulets of color. The inner area is filled with a faint bluish glow that brightens toward the center. Brighter bluish-white rings make up a kind of bull’s-eye surrounding the pulsar, and an elongated structure curves diagonally downward. ", "width": 5400, "height": 4721, "pixels": 25493400 } }, { "id": 521488, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1203891, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a015000/a015041/timelapse_crab_nebula_searchweb.png", "filename": "timelapse_crab_nebula_searchweb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The Crab Nebula formed in a supernova explosion observed in 1054. At its heart lies an isolated neutron star, the crushed core of the original star. It spins about 30 times a second, sweeping a beam of radiation toward Earth with every rotation, lighthouse style, which classifies the neutron star as a pulsar. This rapid spin powers X-ray jets (elongated blue-white feature near center) and a high-speed outflow of electrons and other particles. The particles collect in a vast cloud-like structure called a pulsar wind nebula, which also forms around magnetars, the pulsar’s supermagnetized cousin. This emission gradually slows the neutron star’s spin. These images combine X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (bluish white) and infrared data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.Credit: X-ray, Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO; Infrared, Webb: NASA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. MajorAlt text: X-ray and infrared composite of the Crab NebulaImage description: Against a starry background lies a colorful, roughly elliptical cloud taking up most of the frame. Its outer edges are formed by gray, red, and yellow loops and tendrils, parts of which seem to be outward-moving splashes and rivulets of color. The inner area is filled with a faint bluish glow that brightens toward the center. Brighter bluish-white rings make up a kind of bull’s-eye surrounding the pulsar, and an elongated structure curves diagonally downward. ", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } }, { "id": 521489, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1203892, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a015000/a015041/timelapse_crab_nebula_thm.png", "filename": "timelapse_crab_nebula_thm.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The Crab Nebula formed in a supernova explosion observed in 1054. At its heart lies an isolated neutron star, the crushed core of the original star. It spins about 30 times a second, sweeping a beam of radiation toward Earth with every rotation, lighthouse style, which classifies the neutron star as a pulsar. This rapid spin powers X-ray jets (elongated blue-white feature near center) and a high-speed outflow of electrons and other particles. The particles collect in a vast cloud-like structure called a pulsar wind nebula, which also forms around magnetars, the pulsar’s supermagnetized cousin. This emission gradually slows the neutron star’s spin. These images combine X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (bluish white) and infrared data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.Credit: X-ray, Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO; Infrared, Webb: NASA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. MajorAlt text: X-ray and infrared composite of the Crab NebulaImage description: Against a starry background lies a colorful, roughly elliptical cloud taking up most of the frame. Its outer edges are formed by gray, red, and yellow loops and tendrils, parts of which seem to be outward-moving splashes and rivulets of color. The inner area is filled with a faint bluish glow that brightens toward the center. Brighter bluish-white rings make up a kind of bull’s-eye surrounding the pulsar, and an elongated structure curves diagonally downward. ", "width": 80, "height": 40, "pixels": 3200 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 380323, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/15041/#media_group_380323", "widget": "Single image", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "The X-ray glow associated with a source known as Swift J1834.9-0846, located near the center of the W41 supernova remnant, comes from the first magnetar wind nebula identified (outline).
Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton and Younes et al. 2016
Alt text: X-ray image of first known magnetar wind nebula
Image description: Pixelated blobs in various sizes and colors emerge from a black background. At the center, a yellow outline encloses a large blob predominantly in green and blue-white. A thin white line extends from the brightest spot to a label at about 10 o’clock that reads “Magnetar.” A white scale bar at lower left indicates a width of 10 light-years, with corresponding text.
", "items": [ { "id": 521490, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1203901, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a015000/a015041/MWN_XMM_labels.png", "filename": "MWN_XMM_labels.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The X-ray glow associated with a source known as Swift J1834.9-0846, located near the center of the W41 supernova remnant, comes from the first magnetar wind nebula identified (outline). Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton and Younes et al. 2016Alt text: X-ray image of first known magnetar wind nebula Image description: Pixelated blobs in various sizes and colors emerge from a black background. At the center, a yellow outline encloses a large blob predominantly in green and blue-white. A thin white line extends from the brightest spot to a label at about 10 o’clock that reads “Magnetar.” A white scale bar at lower left indicates a width of 10 light-years, with corresponding text.", "width": 1920, "height": 1201, "pixels": 2305920 } }, { "id": 521491, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1203902, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a015000/a015041/MWN_XMM_no_labels.png", "filename": "MWN_XMM_no_labels.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The X-ray glow associated with a source known as Swift J1834.9-0846, located near the center of the W41 supernova remnant, comes from the first magnetar wind nebula identified (outline). Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton and Younes et al. 2016Alt text: X-ray image of first known magnetar wind nebula Image description: Pixelated blobs in various sizes and colors emerge from a black background. At the center, a yellow outline encloses a large blob predominantly in green and blue-white. A thin white line extends from the brightest spot to a label at about 10 o’clock that reads “Magnetar.” A white scale bar at lower left indicates a width of 10 light-years, with corresponding text.", "width": 1920, "height": 1201, "pixels": 2305920 } }, { "id": 521492, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 1203903, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a015000/a015041/MWN_XMM_labels_print.jpg", "filename": "MWN_XMM_labels_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The X-ray glow associated with a source known as Swift J1834.9-0846, located near the center of the W41 supernova remnant, comes from the first magnetar wind nebula identified (outline). Credit: ESA/XMM-Newton and Younes et al. 2016Alt text: X-ray image of first known magnetar wind nebula Image description: Pixelated blobs in various sizes and colors emerge from a black background. At the center, a yellow outline encloses a large blob predominantly in green and blue-white. A thin white line extends from the brightest spot to a label at about 10 o’clock that reads “Magnetar.” A white scale bar at lower left indicates a width of 10 light-years, with corresponding text.", "width": 1024, "height": 640, "pixels": 655360 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 380320, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/15041/#media_group_380320", "widget": "Basic text", "title": "For More Information", "caption": "", "description": "See [NASA.gov](https://science.nasa.gov/missions/fermi/nasas-fermi-glimpses-power-source-of-supercharged-supernovae/)", "items": [], "extra_data": {} } ], "studio": "gms", "funding_sources": [ "PAO" ], "credits": [ { "role": "Science writer", "people": [ { "name": "Francis Reddy", "employer": "University of Maryland College Park" } ] }, { "role": "Scientist", "people": [ { "name": "Elizabeth Hays", "employer": "NASA/GSFC" }, { "name": "Fabio Acero", "employer": "University of Saclay" } ] }, { "role": "Producer", "people": [ { "name": "Sophia Roberts", "employer": "eMITS" }, { "name": "Scott Wiessinger", "employer": "eMITS" } ] }, { "role": "Animator", "people": [ { "name": "Jonathan North", "employer": "eMITS" } ] } ], "missions": [], "series": [], "tapes": [], "papers": [], "datasets": [], "nasa_science_categories": [ "Universe" ], "keywords": [ "Astrophysics", "Blazar", "Fermi", "Gamma Ray Observatory", "Magnetar", "Neutron Star", "Pulsar", "Space", "Star", "Supernova", "Universe" ], "recommended_pages": [], "related": [ { "id": 20413, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20413/", "page_type": "Animation", "title": "Supernova explosion animation, with & without pulsar", "description": "This animation shows a supernova — the explosion of a massive star — and the formation of an expanding cloud of debris called a supernova remnant. As the brightness fades, a pulsing light source appears at the center, surrounded by a small expanding nebula. The pulsing object is a pulsar, a type of neutron star, which represents the core of the massive star that exploded. The cloud around it is a pulsar wind nebula, which is formed and maintained by an outflow of particles streaming away from the neutron star. A version of the animation is available without the pulsar.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab || SN_HQ_Full_H264_V001.00750_print.jpg (1024x576) [120.0 KB] || SN_HQ_Full_H264_V001.00750_searchweb.png (320x180) [77.3 KB] || SN_HQ_Full_H264_V001.00750_web.png (320x180) [77.3 KB] || SN_HQ_Full_H264_V001.00750_thm.png (80x40) [5.9 KB] || SN_HQ_Full_1080_V001.mp4 (1920x1080) [97.4 MB] || SN_HQ_Full_H264_V001.mp4 (3840x2160) [63.7 MB] || SN_HQ_Full_onlypulsar_V001.mov (3840x2160) [119.4 MB] || SN_HQ_Full_V001.mov (3840x2160) [2.5 GB] || SN_HQ_Full_nopulsar_V001.mov (3840x2160) [2.5 GB] || ", "release_date": "2026-05-20T09:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2026-05-20T10:07:44-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1203941, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a020000/a020400/a020413/SN_HQ_Full_H264_V001.00750_print.jpg", "filename": "SN_HQ_Full_H264_V001.00750_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This animation shows a supernova — the explosion of a massive star — and the formation of an expanding cloud of debris called a supernova remnant. As the brightness fades, a pulsing light source appears at the center, surrounded by a small expanding nebula. The pulsing object is a pulsar, a type of neutron star, which represents the core of the massive star that exploded. The cloud around it is a pulsar wind nebula, which is formed and maintained by an outflow of particles streaming away from the neutron star. A version of the animation is available without the pulsar.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 13751, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13751/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA Missions Team Up to Study Unique Magnetar Outburst", "description": "On April 28, space- and ground-based observatories detected powerful, simultaneous X-ray and radio bursts from a source in our galaxy. Watch to see how this unique event helps solve the longstanding puzzle of fast radio bursts observed in other galaxies.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Jupiter's Eye\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Magnetar_FRB_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [535.5 KB] || Magnetar_FRB_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [65.5 KB] || Magnetar_FRB_Still_thm.png (80x40) [4.8 KB] || 13751_Magnetar_FRB_Best_1080.webm (1920x1080) [25.7 MB] || 13751_Magnetar_FRB_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [237.4 MB] || 13751_Magnetar_FRB_Best_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [741.8 MB] || Fast_Radio_Burst_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [4.5 KB] || Fast_Radio_Burst_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [4.5 KB] || 13751_Magnetar_FRB_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [3.2 GB] || ", "release_date": "2020-11-04T11:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2020-11-04T14:43:03-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 381635, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a013700/a013751/Magnetar_FRB_Still.jpg", "filename": "Magnetar_FRB_Still.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "On April 28, space- and ground-based observatories detected powerful, simultaneous X-ray and radio bursts from a source in our galaxy. Watch to see how this unique event helps solve the longstanding puzzle of fast radio bursts observed in other galaxies.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Jupiter's Eye\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 13058, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13058/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Simulations Create New Insights Into Pulsars", "description": "Explore a new “pulsar in a box” computer simulation that tracks the fate of electrons (blue) and their antimatter kin, positrons (red), as they interact with powerful magnetic and electric fields around a neutron star. Lighter colors indicate higher particle energies. Each particle seen in this visualization actually represents trillions of electrons or positrons. Better knowledge of the particle environment around neutron stars will help astronomers understand how they produce precisely timed radio and gamma-ray pulses.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Reaching for the Horizon\" and \"Leaving Earth\" from Killer TracksWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Pulsar_Still_1_print.jpg (1024x576) [436.1 KB] || Pulsar_Still_1.jpg (3840x2160) [4.5 MB] || Pulsar_Still_1_searchweb.png (320x180) [134.5 KB] || Pulsar_Still_1_thm.png (80x40) [9.1 KB] || 13058_Pulsar_Particle_Simulation_1080.webm (1920x1080) [25.8 MB] || 13058_Pulsar_Particle_Simulation_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [208.0 MB] || 13058_Pulsar_Particle_Simulation_H264_1080.mov (1920x1080) [313.3 MB] || 13058_Pulsar_Particle_Simulation_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [3.7 KB] || 13058_Pulsar_Particle_Simulation_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [3.6 KB] || 13058_Pulsar_Particle_Simulation_2160.mp4 (3840x2160) [523.3 MB] || 13058_Pulsar_Particle_Simulation_ProRes_3840x2160_2997.mov (3840x2160) [10.6 GB] || ", "release_date": "2018-10-10T11:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2019-11-06T13:56:52-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 400729, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a013000/a013058/Pulsar_Still_1_print.jpg", "filename": "Pulsar_Still_1_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Explore a new “pulsar in a box” computer simulation that tracks the fate of electrons (blue) and their antimatter kin, positrons (red), as they interact with powerful magnetic and electric fields around a neutron star. Lighter colors indicate higher particle energies. Each particle seen in this visualization actually represents trillions of electrons or positrons. Better knowledge of the particle environment around neutron stars will help astronomers understand how they produce precisely timed radio and gamma-ray pulses.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Reaching for the Horizon\" and \"Leaving Earth\" from Killer TracksWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 11713, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11713/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Fermi Finds Hints of Starquakes in Magnetar 'Storm'", "description": "Astronomers analyzing data acquired by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope during a rapid-fire \"storm\" of high-energy blasts in 2009 have discovered underlying signals related to seismic waves rippling throughout the host neutron star.The burst storm came from SGR J1550−5418, a neutron star with a super-strong magnetic field, also known as a magnetar. Located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Norma, the magnetar was quiet until October 2008, when it entered a period of eruptive activity that ended in April 2009. At times, the object produced hundreds of bursts in as little as 20 minutes, and the most intense explosions emitted more total energy than the sun does in 20 years. High-energy instruments on many spacecraft, including NASA's Swift and Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, detected hundreds of gamma-ray and X-ray blasts.An examination of 263 individual bursts detected by Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor confirms vibrations in the frequency ranges previously only seen in rare giant flares from magnetars. Astronomers suspect these are twisting oscillations of the star where the crust and the core, bound by the magnetic field, vibrate together. In addition, a single burst showed an oscillation at a frequency never seen before and which scientists still do not understand.While there are many efforts to describe the interiors of neutron stars, scientists lack enough observational detail to choose between differing models. Neutron stars reach densities far beyond the reach of laboratories and their interiors may exceed the density of an atomic nucleus by as much as 10 times. Knowing more about how bursts shake up these stars will give theorists an important new window into understanding their internal structure.Magnetar Burst with Torsional Waves || ", "release_date": "2014-10-21T14:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2015-01-08T14:01:58-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 450243, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011700/a011713/Magnetar_Burst_Torsional_Waves_1080.jpg", "filename": "Magnetar_Burst_Torsional_Waves_1080.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A rupture in the crust of a highly magnetized neutron star, shown here in an artist's rendering, can trigger high-energy eruptions. Fermi observations of these blasts include information on how the star's surface twists and vibrates, providing new insights into what lies beneath. The subtle pattern on the surface represents a twisting motion imparted to the magnetar by the explosion.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 11205, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11205/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Fermi Traces a Celestial Spirograph", "description": "NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope orbits our planet every 95 minutes, building up increasingly deeper views of the universe with every circuit. Its wide-eyed Large Area Telescope (LAT) sweeps across the entire sky every three hours, capturing the highest-energy form of light — gamma rays — from sources across the universe. These range from supermassive black holes billions of light-years away to intriguing objects in our own galaxy, such as X-ray binaries, supernova remnants and pulsars. Now a Fermi scientist has transformed LAT data of a famous pulsar into a mesmerizing movie that visually encapsulates the spacecraft's complex motion. Pulsars are neutron stars, the crushed cores of massive suns that destroyed themselves when they ran out of fuel, collapsed and exploded. The blast simultaneously shattered the star and compressed its core into a body as small as a city yet more massive than the sun. One pulsar, called Vela, shines especially bright for Fermi. It spins 11 times a second and is the brightest persistent source of gamma rays the LAT sees. The movie renders Vela's position in a fisheye perspective, where the middle of the pattern corresponds to the central and most sensitive portion of the LAT's field of view. The edge of the pattern is 90 degrees away from the center and well beyond what scientists regard as the effective limit of the LAT's vision. The movie tracks both Vela's position relative to the center of the LAT's field of view and the instrument's exposure of the pulsar during the first 51 months of Fermi's mission, from Aug. 4, 2008, to Nov. 15, 2012. The pattern Vela traces reflects numerous motions of the spacecraft. The first is Fermi's 95-minute orbit around Earth, but there's another, subtler motion related to it. The orbit itself also rotates, a phenomenon called precession. Similar to the wobble of an unsteady top, Fermi's orbital plane makes a slow circuit around Earth every 54 days. In order to capture the entire sky every two orbits, scientists deliberately nod the LAT in a repeating pattern from one orbit to the next. It first looks north on one orbit, south on the next, and then north again. Every few weeks, the LAT deviates from this pattern to concentrate on particularly interesting targets, such as eruptions on the sun, brief but brilliant gamma-ray bursts associated with the birth of stellar-mass black holes, and outbursts from supermassive black holes in distant galaxies. The Vela movie captures one other Fermi motion. The spacecraft rolls to keep the sun from shining on and warming up the LAT's radiators, which regulate its temperature by bleeding excess heat into space.Watch this video on YouTube. || ", "release_date": "2013-02-27T10:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2015-06-25T17:47:35-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 468313, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011200/a011205/Vela_Pulsar_1000.jpg", "filename": "Vela_Pulsar_1000.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The Vela pulsar outlines a fascinating pattern in this movie showing 51 months of position and exposure data from Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT). The pattern reflects numerous motions of the spacecraft, including its orbit around Earth, the precession of its orbital plane, the manner in which the LAT nods north and south on alternate orbits, and more. The movie renders Vela's position in a fisheye perspective, where the middle of the pattern corresponds to the central and most sensitive portion of the LAT's field of view. The edge of the pattern is 90 degrees away from the center and well beyond what scientists regard as the effective limit of the LAT's vision. Better knowledge of how the LAT's sensitivity changes across its field of view helps Fermi scientists better understand both the instrument and the data it returns.Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT CollaborationFor complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 11209, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11209/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Fermi Proves Supernova Remnants Produce Cosmic Rays", "description": "A new study using observations from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveals the first clear-cut evidence that the expanding debris of exploded stars produces some of the fastest-moving matter in the universe. This discovery is a major step toward meeting one of Fermi's primary mission goals.Cosmic rays are subatomic particles that move through space at nearly the speed of light. About 90 percent of them are protons, with the remainder consisting of electrons and atomic nuclei. In their journey across the galaxy, the electrically charged particles become deflected by magnetic fields. This scrambles their paths and makes it impossible to trace their origins directly.Through a variety of mechanisms, these speedy particles can lead to the emission of gamma rays, the most powerful form of light and a signal that travels to us directly from its sources.Two supernova remnants, known as IC 443 and W44, are expanding into cold, dense clouds of interstellar gas. This material emits gamma rays when struck by high-speed particles escaping the remnants.Scientists have been unable to ascertain which particle is responsible for this emission because cosmic-ray protons and electrons give rise to gamma rays with similar energies. Now, after analyzing four years of data, Fermi scientists see a gamma-ray feature from both remnants that, like a fingerprint, proves the culprits are protons.When cosmic-ray protons smash into normal protons, they produce a short-lived particle called a neutral pion. The pion quickly decays into a pair of gamma rays. This emission falls within a specific band of energies associated with the rest mass of the neutral pion, and it declines steeply toward lower energies. Detecting this low-end cutoff is clear proof that the gamma rays arise from decaying pions formed by protons accelerated within the supernova remnants.In 1949, the Fermi telescope's namesake, physicist Enrico Fermi, suggested that the highest-energy cosmic rays were accelerated in the magnetic fields of interstellar gas clouds. In the decades that followed, astronomers showed that supernova remnants were the galaxy's best candidate sites for this process.?A charged particle trapped in a supernova remnant's magnetic field moves randomly throughout it and occasionally crosses through the explosion's leading shock wave. Each round trip through the shock ramps up the particle's speed by about 1 percent. After many crossings, the particle obtains enough energy to break free and escapes into the galaxy as a newborn cosmic ray. The Fermi discovery builds on a strong hint of neutral pion decay in W44 observed by the Italian Space Agency's AGILE gamma-ray observatory and published in late 2011.Watch this video on YouTube. || ", "release_date": "2013-02-14T14:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2021-09-10T15:24:03-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 468169, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011200/a011209/Cas_A_Still.jpg", "filename": "Cas_A_Still.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The husks of exploded stars produce some of the fastest particles in the cosmos. New findings by NASA's Fermi show that two supernova remnants accelerate protons to near the speed of light. The protons interact with nearby interstellar gas clouds, which then emit gamma rays. Short narrated video.For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } }, { "id": 10767, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10767/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA's Fermi Spots 'Superflares' in the Crab Nebula", "description": "The famous Crab Nebula supernova remnant has erupted in an enormous flare five times more powerful than any previously seen from the object. The outburst was first detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope on April 12 and lasted six days.The nebula, which is the wreckage of an exploded star whose light reached Earth in 1054, is one of the most studied objects in the sky. At the heart of an expanding gas cloud lies what's left of the original star's core, a superdense neutron star that spins 30 times a second. With each rotation, the star swings intense beams of radiation toward Earth, creating the pulsed emission characteristic of spinning neutron stars (also known as pulsars). Apart from these pulses, astrophysicists regarded the Crab Nebula to be a virtually constant source of high-energy radiation. But in January, scientists associated with several orbiting observatories — including NASA's Fermi, Swift and Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer — reported long-term brightness changes at X-ray energies.Scientists think that the flares occur as the intense magnetic field near the pulsar undergoes sudden restructuring. Such changes can accelerate particles like electrons to velocities near the speed of light. As these high-speed electrons interact with the magnetic field, they emit gamma rays in a process known as synchrotron emission.To account for the observed emission, scientists say that the electrons must have energies 100 times greater than can be achieved in any particle accelerator on Earth. This makes them the highest-energy electrons known to be associated with any cosmic source.Based on the rise and fall of gamma rays during the April outbursts, scientists estimate that the size of the emitting region must be comparable in size to the solar system. If circular, the region must be smaller than roughly twice Pluto's average distance from the sun.For more Crab Nebula media go to #10708. || ", "release_date": "2011-05-11T12:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2015-10-19T10:54:59-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 486201, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010700/a010767/Crab_nebula_Superflare_mk_II.jpg", "filename": "Crab_nebula_Superflare_mk_II.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "There are strange goings-on in the Crab Nebula. On April 12, 2011, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected the most powerful in a series of gamma-ray flares occurring somewhere within the supernova remnant.Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } }, { "id": 10566, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10566/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Fermi Explores Supernova Remnants", "description": "Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT) resolved gamma rays with energies a billion times greater than that of visible light from supernova remnants of different ages and in different environments. W51C, W44 and IC 443 are middle-aged remnants between 4,000 and 30,000 years old. The youngest remnant, Cassiopeia A, is only 330 years old and appears to the LAT as a point source. The images bring astronomers a step closer to understanding the source of some of the universe's most energetic particles — cosmic rays. The emissions are likely the result of accelerated protons interacting with nearby gas clouds, but other possibilities have not been eliminated. Astrophysicists believe that supernova remnants are the galaxy's best candidate sites for cosmic-ray acceleration. These observations provide further validation to the notion that supernova remnants act as enormous accelerators for cosmic particles. || ", "release_date": "2010-02-13T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2021-09-13T09:15:10-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 494255, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010500/a010566/10566_SNRGeV_still_1280x720.jpg", "filename": "10566_SNRGeV_still_1280x720.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Supernova Remnant video showing specific remnants and their appearance at different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation.For Photoshop file, click here.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } }, { "id": 10567, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10567/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "How Cosmic-ray Protons Make Gamma rays", "description": "In the simplest and most common interaction, a cosmic-ray proton strikes another proton. The protons survive the collision, but their interaction creates an unstable particle — a pion — with only 14 percent the mass of a proton. In 10 millionths of a billionth of a second, the pion decays into a pair of gamma-ray photons. More complex scenarios occur when cosmic-ray protons strike nuclei containing greater numbers of particles. || ", "release_date": "2010-02-13T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2015-11-18T10:45:54-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 494226, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010500/a010567/Pion_Simple_Still_1280x720.jpg", "filename": "Pion_Simple_Still_1280x720.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Simple animation of proton-proton interaction resulting in netural pion that decays into two gamma rays.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }