Gemini North captures remnant of supernova SN 1181

Astronomers using the Gemini North telescope in Hawai'i imaged Pa 30, the likely remnant of supernova SN 1181 witnessed in August 1181. The new GMOS data resolve the filamentary structure about 10 times better than before. The central star is around 200,000°C with winds near 16,000 km/s.

• Pa 30 is the only known Type Iax supernova remnant in the Milky Way
• SN 1181 was visible in Cassiopeia for 185 days
• The remnant was found in 2013 via a citizen science search of WISE data
• The image was taken with the GMOS spectrograph; the paper is in The Astrophysical Journal