Hubble Spots Supernova with Mysterious Links to Another

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope fixated its eye on a distant spiral galaxy playing host to a supernova so close to the location of one spotted last year that astronomers suspect the two events are interconnected.

In 2012 astronomers studying galaxy NGC 6984 caught a glimpse of an new supernova which they named SN 2012im. The cosmic event was classified as a Type Ic supernova, whereas the neighboring supernova documented this year, SN 2013ek, is a Type Ib.

"Both of these types are caused by the core collapse of massive stars that have shed - or lost - their outer layers of hydrogen. Type Ic supernovae are thought to have lost more of their outer envelope than Type Ib, including a layer of helium," NASA said.

Supernovae are immensely bright objects formed when a star reaches the end of its life, culmnating in a dramatic explosion and expelling most of its material out into space.

In the image above, which was taken Aug. 19, 2013, the supernova SN 2013ek is the prominent, star-like object just slightly above and to the right of the galaxy's center.

The supernova "is so close to where SN 2012im was spotted that the two events are thought to be linked," NASA said. "The chance of two completely independent supernovae so close together and of the same class exploding within one year of one another is a very unlikely event. It was initially suggested that SN 2013ek may in fact be SN 2012im flaring up again, but further observations support the idea that they are separate supernovae - although they may be closely related in some as-yet-unknown way."