An exploding star around 21 million light-years away has been recorded by the freshly-installed National Astronomical Observatory in Gozo.

The cataclysmic explosion, which happened in the so-called ‘Pinwheel Galaxy’ (M101),  actually happened 21 million years ago, the light of the explosion having travelled across the universe since that time until it finally reached us.

This death star event is known as a Type II supernova.

It happens when a massive star – several times more massive than our sun – is no longer able to sustain nuclear fusion, thus undergoing a rapid collapse that ends with a spectacular but catastrophic explosion.

Dubbed SN 2023ixf, the supernova was reported on the 19th of May, 2023 by Koichi Itagaki. Astronomers around the world – both professional and amateur – will be turning their telescopes to this object over the coming days after a notification system alerted astronomers around the planet about the galactic event.

Prof Joseph Caruana (Department of Physics and Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy of the University of Malta), who recorded the image from the observatory in Gozo, explained that there are two main categories of supernova. “

The specific type of supernova can be deduced by taking a spectrum, which is like a fingerprint of sorts for the object”, he said.

“Yesterday, some amongst the amateur astronomy community in Malta – the Astronomical Society of Malta – were already discussing this object with us”, said Caruana, remarking that it was quite exciting to witness such an event just a few days after the observatory in Gozo had started operating.

“When you look at the image, the supernova looks just like a tiny dot amongst many others. But that tiny dot represents an extremely violent event whose light has travelled an immense distance. It really gives you perspective.”

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