As part of its study of these stellar explosions, the Hubble Space Telescope imaged spiral galaxy NGC 298, which was previously a type II supernova region. The research aims to explain the diversity of Type II supernovae by observing the regions around these events, potentially providing insight into the history of the stars and their surviving companion stars.

Spiral galaxy NGC 298 is bathed in this image taken by NASA/ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 298 is located about 89 million light-years away in the constellation of Whale and appears isolated in this image with only a few distant galaxies and foreground stars accompanying the lone galaxies. Although NGC 298 looked peaceful, in 1986 it was the site of one of the most extreme events in astronomy: a catastrophic stellar explosion known as a Type II supernova.

Hubble Advanced Camera for Surveys captured NGC 298 as part of its study of the origins of Type II supernovae. All Type II supernovae result from the collapse and subsequent explosion of young, massive stars, but they can produce a striking variety of luminosity and spectral features.

Astronomers suspect that the diversity of these cosmic fireworks may be due to the removal of gas and dust from stars that would later produce Type II supernovae. Observing the region around supernova explosions can reveal traces of the progenitor star’s past preserved in this lost mass and identify companion stars that survived the supernova. Hubble used the short periods between scheduled observations to study the aftermath of a series of Type II supernovae, hoping to establish a link between Type II supernovas and the star systems that gave birth to them.