The explosion of a supernova very close to us has been detected, but don't worry, it poses a risk to the earth since the explosion occurred in another galaxy, in the one known as the pinwheel galaxy or M101 located 21 million light years away. which, is a great distance, but on a cosmic scale it is quite close.
If we reduce the scale of the universe to that of a city, where the Big Bang would be at the other end almost 14 kilometers from us, this supernova would be located only 21 meters from us, it would be on the same block as the street we inhabit.
Of course the event occurred 21 million years ago, but it is now when its effects reach us and we can see its light, the discovery was made on May 19 by the 75-year-old Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki.
A supernova is the explosion caused by the collapse of a massive star at the end of its life, this supernova is type 2, also known as a nuclear collapse supernova, these explosions occur when stars with a mass greater than eight times that of our sun die. .
The star runs out of nuclear fuel, stops fusing elements and, as it does not produce energy in the nucleus, it collapses dragged by gravity, giving rise to a neutron star or a black hole if the star has more than 30 times the mass of the Sun, although sometimes In rare cases it could become a magnetar, which is a peculiar type of neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field, but what makes a supernova visible is not what happens to the core but what happens to the outer layers of the star. star, which are violently thrown into space in an explosion that can be bright for several days.
This supernova has been visible to amateur astronomers with their telescopes since the Pinwheel galaxy is easy to find in the constellation Ursa Major, the supernova shines like a new star in one of its spiral arms.
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