A team of scientists from China, Japan, the Netherlands and the US have used data obtained from the US National Aeronautics and Space Agency’s Chandra X-ray space telescope to identify the first known example in our own galaxy (the Milky Way) of an unusual type of stellar explosion, known as a Type Iax supernova. It is designated Sagittarius A East (Sgr A East) and it is a supernova remnant which lies very close to Sagittarius A•, which is the supermassive black hole in the centre of the Milky Way. There are different types of supernovas. The best known are those triggered by the collapse of massive stars. But they can also be triggered by the collision of two white dwarf stars (which are the collapsed remnants of smaller stars, such as our Sun) or by a white dwarf which pulls too much material from a second, still active, companion star. White dwarf supernovas are usually designated as Type Ia supernovas.
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