Astronomers Uncover "Supernova Archaeology" Using X-ray Data from NASA’s Chandra Observatory.

This image depicts the collapse and supernova explosion of a massive star, with a black hole (right) forming from the collapse and debris raining down onto a companion star (left), contaminating its atmosphere.

When most people think about archaeology, they often envision deep jungles or ancient ruins, but a team of astronomers is taking archaeology to a whole new frontier—space. Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, they have conducted an unprecedented investigation into the remnants left by a star that exploded more than a million years ago, shedding new light on the explosive processes that shaped our universe.

The system under investigation, GRO J1655-40, is home to a black hole with nearly seven times the mass of the Sun and a companion star with about half the Sun's mass. However, this stellar system wasn’t always like this. It was once home to two bright stars—one of which ultimately exploded in a supernova, marking the beginning of a new phase for the system.

The more massive of the two stars exhausted its nuclear fuel and detonated in a powerful supernova, its remains scattering into space, while the companion star remained in orbit. The remnants of the exploded star collapsed inward, forming a black hole. Over time, the separation between the two stars shrank as energy was lost through gravitational waves, eventually leading to the black hole pulling material from its companion star. Some of the material fell into a disk around the black hole, where magnetic fields and friction caused it to be ejected into space as powerful winds.

This is where the astronomers turned to Chandra's X-ray observations. In 2005, when the system was especially bright in X-rays, Chandra captured signatures of elements found in the black hole's winds. By analyzing these X-ray spectra, the team was able to identify key elements such as Silicon, Magnesium, Iron, and Nickel, and use these clues to piece together the history of the exploded star. The data revealed that the original star was about 25 times the mass of the Sun and much richer in elements heavier than helium compared to the Sun.

This groundbreaking analysis, which can be described as a form of "supernova archaeology," provides valuable insights into the violent death of massive stars and the birth of black holes. The findings will guide future studies on other double star systems and their explosive histories.

The team’s research was published in The Astrophysical Journal in May 2024, in a paper titled “Supernova Archaeology with X-Ray Binary Winds: The Case of GRO J1655−40.” The study was led by Noa Keshet and Ehud Behar of the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology, and Timothy Kallman of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

This discovery exemplifies how even remnants of ancient explosions in space can be studied like archaeological artifacts, offering a deeper understanding of the universe's history.

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