Astronomers may have found 1st paired supernovae in Gemini
Astronomers just made a wild discovery: for the first time, they may have found a pair of stars in the same system that both exploded as supernovae.
These cosmic blasts happened in IC 443 (also known as the Jellyfish Nebula) and its neighbor G189.6+3.3, about 6,000 light-years away in Gemini.
This find gives us a rare peek into how massive stars live and die in pairs.
Researchers confirm link after 16 years
Researchers spent more than 16 years gathering data from space telescopes and radio signals to confirm these two explosions were connected, not just random neighbors.
Turns out, both stars may have been huge (over 20 times bigger than our Sun) and blew up thousands of years apart but close together in space.
It is a big step for understanding how giant stars end their lives when they're not alone.