Astronomers Capture Rare Image of Supernova Remnant Observed in the Year 185

The tattered shell of the first-ever recorded supernova was captured by the US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera, which is mounted on the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. A ring of glowing debris is all that remains of a white dwarf star that exploded more than 1800 years ago when it was recorded by Chinese astronomers as a ‘guest star’. This special image, which covers an impressive 45 arcminutes on the sky, gives a rare view of the entirety of this supernova remnant.

In the year 185 CE, Chinese astronomers created what is believed to be the first record of a supernova. Now, astronomers from the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab have imaged the remnant of that event, providing a rare image of the full extent of this ancient structure.