NRAO: National Radio Astronomy Observatory

About this Image

Supernova 1993J as seen with Very Long Baseline Interferometry. This image is made from observations using a world-wide array of 18 radio telescopes, including the NRAO Very Long Baseline Array, Very Large Array, Green Bank Telescope and antennas of the European VLBI Network and the NASA Deep Space Network. The whitish-yellow, glowing object is a radio-image of SN 1993J at a frequency of 8.4 GHz. The ring-shaped "mountains" on the ground represent the actual measurements made by the radio interferometer from which the radio-image was made. Mathematically speaking the radio-image is the Fourier transform of the measurements. Supernova 1993J exploded in 1993 in the galaxy M81, approximately 12 million light years away. The spherical shell of gas is expanding with a speed of about 5000 miles/sec. This spherical shell produces the ring-like structure seen in the radio image. The diameter is about one-half of a light year.

Investigator(s):  N. Bartel, M. Bietenholz, M. Rupen

Alternate Resolutions

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This image is available in the following downloadable versions:

• 550 x 416 color JPEG
• 1050 x 794 color JPEG
• 2400 x 1815 color TIFF

If you would like to obtain a higher resolution version of this image, please contact Pat Smiley.

For More Information

• Read the Journal article
• Up one level for more info on Supernova
• For unfamiliar terms, visit the NRAO Radio Astronomy Glossary

Technical Data

Telescope	VLBA
Date of Observation	2000-11-12
Type of Observation	Continuum Observations
Band	X
Wavelength	3.6 cm
Frequency	8.4 GHz
Center of Image	RA: 09:55:24.77, Dec: 69:01:13.70 (J2000)
Field of View	0.0000 x 0.0000 degrees
Technical Caption	The VLBI Image was made by combining global Array observations made on three sessions between 1998 Dec. to 200 Nov. (PI N. Bartel; see Bietenholz, Bartel & Rupen, ApJ, 597, 2003 for details; see also Bartel et al, 2000, Science, 287, 112; Bietenholz, Bartel, & Rupen, 2001, ApJ, 557, 770; Bartel et al, 2002, 581, 404). The resolution is 0.7 milli-arcsecs. The "ground" shows the Fourier transform of the image, or the uv-plane.



Astronomical database entries for SN 1993J
• Query SIMBAD for more SN 1993J data

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