Last Updated on July 19, 2026 by Staff
A team of astronomers from around the world has taken a look at the unusual supernova SN 2023vjh. They found out some things that can help us understand how stars explode. The team published their findings on a website called arXiv. They think that SN 2023vjh is a kind of supernova called a 91bg-like Type Ia supernova. This kind of supernova is very rare and not very bright. Even though SN 2023vjh is like supernovae of this type it also has some unique features.
By studying SN 2023vjh scientists want to learn more about how Type Ia supernovae happen. These supernovae are very important for measuring how away things are in the universe and for understanding how galaxies change over time.
What Are Type Ia Supernovae?
Supernovae are some of the powerful events in the universe. They happen when a star dies in a violent way. They release a lot of energy. Can be seen from very far away.
Astronomers group supernovae into two types based on what they look like. Type I supernovae do not have hydrogen while Type II supernovae do have hydrogen. Type Ia supernovae happen in systems with two stars, where one of the stars is a white dwarf. The white dwarf gets material from the star and eventually gets too heavy and explodes.
These explosions are very useful because they are all about the brightness. This makes them good for measuring distances in the universe.
However, not all Type Ia supernovae are the same. Some are special. Do not fit the usual ideas about how stars explode.
The Discovery of SN 2023vjh
SN 2023vjh was found on October 17 2023 by the Zwicky Transient Facility. When it was found it was very faint. Could hardly be seen.
The supernova is thought to have happened in a galaxy called MCG+04-10-013 which’s about 271 million light-years away from us. The explosion happened about 22,000 years away from the center of the galaxy. After it was found astronomers started looking at it with different telescopes on the ground. They took pictures and data over weeks to see how the explosion changed.
A Special Kind of Supernova
The astronomers found out that SN 2023vjh is a 91bg-like Type Ia supernova. This kind of supernova is not very bright. Gets faint very quickly. The team found that SN 2023vjh got to its point after just 11.6 days, which is very fast. Its spectrum showed that it had a lot of silicon and other elements.
The astronomers also found that SN 2023vjh was moving slowly which is another thing that makes it special. When they looked at it in the infrared they saw features that were made by calcium, iron and cobalt. They did not see something called the H-band break, which is usually seen in supernovae.
What Makes SN 2023vjh Special?
Even though SN 2023vjh is 91bg-like supernovae it is still very unique. It is even fainter than the others and its light is more red than usual. The astronomers think that this red light might be because of gas and dust around the star that exploded. This is different from what they see. If this is true it could tell us more about the star and its surroundings before it exploded.
What’s Next?
Studying supernovae like SN 2023vjh helps astronomers understand how stars work and how they explode. While normal Type Ia supernovae are good for measuring distances, the special ones show us that there are ways for stars to explode.
Every new supernova that we find gives us information and helps us understand the universe better. The astronomers think that SN 2023vjh is one of the special supernovae of its kind because of how faint it is and how red its light is. As we find supernovae like this one we will learn more about the universe and how stars live and die.