An imposter or real? Check out this Hubble image of a supernova factory

This spectacular image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a close-up view of NGC 2770, a spiral galaxy located about 90 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Lynx. The four observed supernovae that the galaxy hosted over time make it an intriguing object, though none of them is visible in this image.

Supernovae are the brightest and most powerful explosions in the universe. They occur when a massive star runs out of fuel and collapses under its own gravity. The resulting explosion is so powerful that it can outshine an entire galaxy. Supernovae happen in average spiral galaxies only about once every century and can be seen from millions of light-years away.

SN 2015bh, one of the four supernovae observed in this galaxy, is particularly intriguing. Initially, when it was discovered in 2015, astronomers were uncertain of its identity and classified it as a supernova imposter, thinking it was not an exploding star but just an unexpected outburst from a massive star in its last stage of life.

Fortunately, astronomers eventually determined the truth and the object was correctly identified as a Type II supernova, which is caused by the death of a star with a mass between eight and 50 times that of the Sun.

Type II supernovae are the most common type of supernova, accounting for roughly 80% of all supernovae. They are also the source of many of the elements in the universe, including oxygen, carbon, and iron. They are also responsible for creating neutron stars and black holes.

Galaxy NGC 2770 in this #HubbleTopImage has hosted 4 different observed supernovae (not visible here). Astronomers initially classified one of them as a supernova imposter. Read all about it: https://t.co/oBww7kIi97 📷 @esa / @HUBBLE_space & @NASA A. Filippenko pic.twitter.com/lCkxs2rCng

— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) January 5, 2023