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Unmasking the shape of stellar explosions

Theories predict that core asphericity must be involved in core-collapse supernova explosions; however, the shape of these explosions has not been directly observed. The distribution of the explosive burning ash has now been revealed using nebular spectroscopy, indicating that a collimated structure is common in many stellar explosions.

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Fig. 1: The configuration of the axisymmetric model.

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This is a summary of: Fang, Q. et al. An aspherical distribution for the explosive burning ash of core-collapse supernovae. Nat. Astron. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-02120-8 (2023).

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Unmasking the shape of stellar explosions. Nat Astron 8, 15–16 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-02121-7

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