![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781699542_733_sag-a-black-hole-winds.jpg\")
X-ray: NASA\/CXC\/Northwestern Univ.\/M. Gorski; Radio: ESO\/NAOJ\/NRAO\/ALMA; Image processing: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/K. Arcand and P. Edmonds<\/p>\nAstronomers have pointed a powerful X-ray-observing space telescope at a nearby galaxy and spotted signals of exploded stars acting strangely<\/p>\n
The galaxy in question is Messier 83, located just 15 million lightyears from Earth, and observations using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory have revealed the remnants of stellar explosions that are changing in brightness over time.<\/p>\n
M83 is forming stars at a high rate and astronomers used 14 years of observations by Chandra to make the discovery.<\/p>\n
X-ray: NASA\/CXC\/Northwestern Univ.\/M. Gorski; Radio: ESO\/NAOJ\/NRAO\/ALMA; Image processing: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/K. Arcand and P. Edmonds<\/p>\n
![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/messier-83-hubble-chandra.jpg\")
Image of galaxy M83 captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory. Credit: X-ray: NASA\/CXC\/SAO; Optical: NASA\/ESA\/AURA\/STScI, Hubble Heritage Team, W. Blair (STScI\/Johns Hopkins University) and R. O’Connell (University of Virginia); Image Processing: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/A. Jubett, L. Frattare and P. Edmonds
\nExploded stars \u2013\u00a0and what remains<\/p>\n
Once a star runs out of fuel, strange things begin to happen.<\/p>\n
If a star is really big \u2013 say at least 8 times the mass of our Sun \u2013 it may end its life in a huge explosion known as a supernova<\/a>.<\/p>\n This occurs because, as the star runs out of fuel, it no longer has enough energy to prevent itself collapsing under its on weight.<\/p>\n Gravity wins \u2013 and the resultant explosion is the supernova.<\/p>\n And while it may be tricky to observe a supernova occurring in real time, astronomers are able to study a type of object known as a supernova remnant, which is what’s left over after the stellar explosion.<\/p>\n Remnants flickering in brightness<\/p>\n Supernova remnants are normally slowly-fading clouds of hot gas.<\/p>\n But when astronomers pointed NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory at galaxy Messier 83, also known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy<\/a>, they were surprised to find a population of supernova remnants exhibiting dramatic changes in brightness.<\/p>\n Using Chandra data spanning 2000 to 2014, the team found surprising variations in the X-ray brightness of supernova remnant sources.<\/p>\n The team say they would expect supernova remnants older than a century to fade gradually in X-ray light, not change dramatically in brightness.<\/p>\n Video showing supernova remnants changing in brightness over time in galaxy M83. Credit: X-ray: NASA\/CXC\/SAO; Optical: NASA\/ESA\/AURA\/STScI, Hubble Heritage Team, W. Blair (STScI\/Johns Hopkins University) and R. O’Connell (University of Virginia); Image Processing: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/A. Jubett, L. Frattare and P. Edmonds<\/p>\n About half of the X-ray sources from supernova remnants showed changes in X-ray brightness over the 14-year span of observations.<\/p>\n “We knew that individual X-ray sources could vary dramatically,” says Andrea Prestwich of the Catholic University of America, who led the study.<\/p>\n “But finding that so many supernova remnants were behaving this way was a real surprise. Something unusual is going on in these objects. Pinpointing the cause remains a challenge, as M83’s distance limits the detail we can observe.”<\/p>\n The team say that one of the 22 variable supernova remnants could be simply explained.<\/p>\n SN 1957D is all that remains from a supernova discovered nearly 70 years ago. It’s smashing into material around the explosion site and producing X-ray flares.<\/p>\n But, say the team, there’s no evidence to suggest that all 22 supernova remnants formed within the last century. That must mean something else is driving the variability.<\/p>\n They say they might have found a population of stars that survived their neighbours’ destruction in a supernova explosion.<\/p>\n This explanation would mean that each of the X-ray sources that are changing over time lived their lives as a pair of stars \u2013 a binary star system<\/a>.<\/p>\n In this scenario, the more massive star collapsed and exploded, leaving behind a black hole<\/a> or neutron star<\/a>. Its companion, however, survived.<\/p>\n “It may be that this galaxy contains a collection of supernova remnants where one massive star survives the supernova and becomes locked into an orbit with a black hole or neutron star,” says co-author Michael McCollough of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA).<\/p>\n “The neutron star or black hole can then start pulling material from the massive star\u2019s surface.”<\/p>\n As this happens, the material falling on to the neutron star or black hole is heated to extreme temperatures by the gravity and friction involved.<\/p>\n That produces the X-rays detected by Chandra. These types of systems are known as high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) and astronomers say they’re among the most variable X-ray sources in the Universe.<\/p>\n They could be behind the brightness variations seen in the supernova remnants in M83.<\/p>\n Previously, only a small amount of supernova remnants associated with HMXBs had been identified.<\/p>\n The team say no-one has ever discovered over 20 candidates in one galaxy.<\/p>\n And the astronomers also found the variable supernova remnants are in regions with higher concentrations of massive stars than in other parts of the galaxy.<\/p>\n That, they say, increases the chances of a link between the remnants and HMXBs.<\/p>\n But there is another possible explanation, they say. Perhaps the black hole or neutron star is capturing bits of the material blasted outwards by the explosion.<\/p>\n “This could be an example of cosmic recycling, where debris from the explosion falls back onto the very object the supernova created,” says co-author Roy Kilgard of Wesleyan University.<\/p>\n “And it’s quite possible that both explanations are at play \u2013 different sources in our sample may have different origins.”<\/p>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/messier-83-chandra.jpg\")
Image of galaxy M83 captured by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Credit: NASA\/CXC\/SAO. Image Processing: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/A. Jubett, L. Frattare and P. Edmonds
\nSo what’s going on?<\/p>\n![\"Spiral](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/10.weic2509a.jpg\")
Spiral galaxy Messier 83 as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: ESA\/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the FEAST JWST team<\/p>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/messier-83-hubble.jpg\")
Image of galaxy M83 captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA\/ESA\/AURA\/STScI, Hubble Heritage Team, W. Blair (STScI\/Johns Hopkins University) and R. O’Connell (University of Virginia); Image Processing: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/A. Jubett, L. Frattare and P. Edmonds
\nIntroducing high-mass X-ray binaries<\/p>\n