Tag Archives: type ia

Supernova Twins: Making Standard Candles More Standard than Ever

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The Nearby Supernova Factory, based at Berkeley Lab, finds a new way to measure cosmological distances with far greater accuracy

Less than 20 years ago the world learned that the universe is expanding ever faster, propelled by dark energy. The discovery was made possible by Type Ia supernovae; extraordinarily bright and remarkably similar in brightness, they serve as “standard candles” essential for probing the universe’s history. (more…)

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Astronomers Pin Down Origins of “Mile Markers” for Expansion of Universe

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – A study using a unique new instrument on the world’s largest optical telescope has revealed the likely origins of especially bright supernovae that astronomers use as easy-to-spot “mile markers” to measure the expansion and acceleration of the universe.

In a paper to appear in the Astrophysical Journal, researchers describe observations of recent supernova 2011fe that they captured with the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) using a tool created at Ohio State University: the Multi-Object Double Spectrograph (MODS). (more…)

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