Word: supernovas
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...noticed that chemicals released during the star's explosion which should have mixed together over the last four millenia were in fact still separated in space--as if they didn't have the time to mix yet. They discoved this by using several different filters when photographing the supernova, which bring out the separate bands of the elements, Kirshner says. "It still bears the imprint of" a more recent explosion than most data from Puppis A reveals...
Kirshner says that further detailed measurements of Puppis A's light wavelength indicated that part of the supernova was only 800 years old, when the rest of it had been previously estimated at 4000 years of age. On a universal time scale, however, the 3200-year difference is practically simultaneous, Kishner says...
Another puzzling thing about the supernova was there were no radio waves or X-rays emitted from it. "This would not be so odd, though, if there was something inside the other remnant," Kirshner says. "There's a good circumstantial case for a second supernova inside the other supernova. If it's really true it's the only case we know about...
...Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CFA), Stephen R. Heathcote from the Cerro Tololo Observatory and Frank Winkler from Middlebury College, published these findings in the January 5 issue of Nature magazine. The cover of the famous periodical shows a picture created by Kirshner portraying his theory of the double supernova explosions in Puppis...
Kirshner says it took a year to publish the findings because of the time necessary to reduce the data and write the article. He says some editors thought the possible double supernova was interesting but not worthy to write about at first...