Survivor From 1572 AD Explosion Supports Supernova Theory

EMBARGOED UNTIL: 2:00 pm (EDT) October 27, 2004

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
(Phone: 410-338-4514; E-mail: )

Lars Lindberg Christensen
Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre, Garching, Germany
(Phone: +49-89-320-06-306; Cellular: +49-173-38-72-621; E-mail:
)

Robert Sanders
University of California, Berkeley, CA
(Phone: 510-643-6998; E-mail: )

Javier Mendez
Isaac Newton Group/William Herschel Telescope, La Palma, Spain
(Phone: +34-922-425-464; E-mail: )

Laura Kraft
W.M. Keck Observatory/CARA, Kamuela, HI
(Phone: 808-885-7887; E-mail: )

PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR04-34

STELLAR SURVIVOR FROM 1572 A.D. EXPLOSION SUPPORTS SUPERNOVA THEORY

An international team of astronomers is announcing today that they have
identified the probable surviving companion star to a titanic supernova
explosion witnessed in the year 1572 by the great Danish astronomer
Tycho Brahe and other astronomers of that era.

This discovery provides the first direct evidence supporting the
long-held belief that Type Ia supernovae come from binary star systems
containing a normal star and a burned-out white dwarf star. The normal
star spills material onto the dwarf, which eventually triggers an
explosion.

The results of this research, led by Pilar Ruiz-Lapuente of the
University of Barcelona, Spain, are being published in the Oct. 28
British science journal Nature.

To see and read more, please visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2004/34
http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0415.html

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA), for
NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt,
Md. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation
between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).