Why in news? NASA launched a new sounding rocket as part of INFUSE mission

Highlights:

• Sounding rocket was launched to study a stellar event in the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant that took place 20,000 years ago.

What is INFUSE mission?

• Integral Field Ultraviolet Spectroscope Experiment (INFUSE) mission was initiated with the objective of investigating the Cygnus Loop, which is a remnant of a supernova.
• It was launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

What will INFUSE mission do?

• It is expected to collect information about the remnant for a few minutes from a height of 150 miles (240 km).
• The instrument will gather light streaming from the Cygnus Loop in far-ultraviolet wavelengths.
• Observe how the supernova dumps energy into the Milky Way by catching light given off just as the blast wave crashes into pockets of cold gas floating around the galaxy.
• It tries to understand the life cycle of stars

What is the Cygnus Loop?

• The Cygnus Loop is the remnant of a star that was once 20 times the size of our Sun.
• Some 20,000 years ago, that star collapsed under its own gravity and erupted into a supernova.
• Even from 2,600 light-years away, astronomers estimate the flash of light would have been bright enough to see from Earth during the day.