Key facts
- Each knot is wide enough to accommodate ten times the orbit of Neptune, with room to spare.
- The surviving zombie star is located almost exactly at the center of Pa 30.
- Pa 30 lies about 7,500 light‑years from Earth, much nearer than the Milky Way’s center at roughly 26,000 light‑years.
- Pa 30 is linked to the historical supernova SN 1181, recorded in Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic sources in 1181 and visible for about 185 days in the constellation Cassiopeia.
Gemini North observations showed chains of gas knots that look like pearls on a string in the Pa 30 supernova remnant, according to research published in 2026.
Each knot spans a width that could fit ten Neptune orbits, leaving extra space. The gas knots show remarkably uniform sizes throughout the remnant. The surviving zombie star lies almost exactly at the center of Pa 30.
Ionized sulfur emission revealed about ten times more filamentary structures than previous images could detect. Measurements give a precise upper limit on the remnant star’s sideways kick speed, showing it gained virtually no lateral motion from the blast. Pa 30 sits about 7,500 light‑years from Earth, far closer than the Milky Way’s center, which is roughly 26,000 light‑years away.
Gemini North sits on Mauna Kea in Hawaii at an elevation over 4,200 meters (13,800 feet). Gemini North makes up half of the International Gemini Observatory; its twin, Gemini South, resides in Chile and NSF NOIRLab operates it.
Each knot could contain about ten solar‑system‑sized planetary regions, still with room to spare. Pa 30 is tied to the historical supernova SN 1181, noted in Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic records from 1181 and visible for roughly 185 days in Cassiopeia.
Astronomers consider Pa 30 the only known remnant of a Type Iax supernova within the Milky Way. Type Iax supernovae are low‑energy explosions that do not fully destroy the star.
Such explosions can leave a surviving star behind. A standard Type Ia supernova destroys the exploding white dwarf. NOIRLab suggests that temperature or density variations in the surrounding material may have shaped Pa 30’s expanding ejecta.
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