NASA’s IXPE has captured the first polarized X-ray image of supernova remnant SN 1006, providing scientists’ with the data needed to better understand the relationship between magnetic fields and the flow of high-energy particles from exploding stars. SN 1006 is located approximately 6,500 light-years from Earth in the Lupus constellation and is all that remains after a massive explosion that occurred either when two white dwarfs merged.
Previously, X-ray observations of this supernova remnant offered the first evidence that they can radically accelerate electrons, and helped identify rapidly expanding nebulae around exploded stars as a birthplace for highly energetic cosmic rays. Since launching in 2021, IXPE has observed three supernova remnants: Cassiopeia A, Tycho, and SN 1006. What surprised scientists the most about SN 1006 was that it is more polarized than the other two supernova remnants, while all three show magnetic fields oriented such that they point outward from the center of the explosion.
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Close-proximity, X-ray-bright supernova remnants such as SN 1006 are ideally suited to IXPE measurements, given IXPE’s combination of X-ray polarization sensitivity with the capability to resolve the emission regions spatially. This integrated capability is essential to localizing cosmic-ray acceleration sites,” said Douglas Swartz, a Universities Space Research Association researcher at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
