Blog Post Image: Cosmic detectives discover missing star in ultimate of dead ends

This is an artist’s impression of supernova 1993J, an exploding star in the galaxy M81 whose light reached Earth 21 years ago. The supernova originated in a double-star system, in which one member was a massive star that exploded after siphoning most of its hydrogen envelope to its companion star. After two decades, astronomers have identified the blue helium-burning companion star, seen at the center of the expanding nebula of debris from the supernova. The Hubble Space Telescope identified the ultraviolet glow of the surviving companion embedded in the fading glow of the supernova. Image courtesy of ESA and G Bacon (STScI), NASA