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Oct 31, 2019 · For explosions to occur, there needs to be a build-up of pressure. Alexei Poludnenko at the University of Connecticut and his team wanted to find out is how this can happen in explosions that ...
- Supernova
That changed on 21 January, when Steve Fossey of University...
- White Dwarf
A supernova doesn’t always spell destruction. A white dwarf...
- There Aren't Enough Space Explosions to Explain Strange Radio Bursts
Weird flashes of radio waves from space could in theory be...
- Supernova
A supernova (pl.: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion. The original object, called the progenitor, either collapses to a neutron star or black hole, or is completely ...
Feb 19, 2014 · In this case, the element is titanium-44, which has an unstable nucleus produced at the heart of the exploding star. These illustrations show the progression of a supernova blast. A massive star (left), which has created elements as heavy as iron in its interior, blows up in a tremendous explosion (middle), scattering its outer layers in a structure called a supernova remnant (right).
- What Causes A Supernova?
- How Bright Are Supernovas?
- How Common Are Supernovas?
- What Can We Learn from Supernovas?
- How Do Scientists Study Supernovas?
One type of supernova is caused by the “last hurrah” of a dying massive star. This happens when a star at least five times the mass of our sun goes out with a fantastic bang! Massive stars burn huge amounts of nuclear fuel at their cores, or centers. This produces tons of energy, so the center gets very hot. Heat generates pressure, and the pressur...
These spectacular events can be so bright that they outshine their entire galaxies for a few days or even months. They can be seen across the universe.
Not very. Astronomers believe that about two or three supernovas occur each century in galaxies like our own Milky Way. Because the universe contains so many galaxies, astronomers observe a few hundred supernovas per year outside our galaxy. Space dust blocks our view of most of the supernovas within the Milky Way.
Scientists have learned a lot about the universe by studying supernovas. They use the second type of supernova (the kind involving white dwarfs) like a ruler, to measure distances in space. They have also learned that stars are the universe’s factories. Stars generate the chemical elements needed to make everything in our universe. At their cores, ...
NASA scientists use a number of different types of telescopes to search for and then study supernovas. One example is the NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) mission, which uses X-ray vision to investigate the universe. NuSTAR is helping scientists observe supernovas and young nebulas to learn more about what happens leading up to, durin...
Jul 1, 2019 · The result is a type Ia supernova explosion. Just as people do, stars have a finite life. Born in dusty gas clouds of a galaxy’s spiral arms, stars fuse hydrogen into heavier elements during ...
Jun 19, 2023 · A supernova is the explosion of a massive star. There are many different types of supernovae, but they can be broadly separated into two main types: thermonuclear runaway or core-collapse. This ...
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How does a star explode in a 3D simulation?
Nov 3, 2005 · In this computer simulation frame, the core (center) of a massive star has just collapsed under the force of gravity and has rebounded, triggering an outwardly propagating shock wave (dark blue ring). At this moment, 50 milliseconds after core collapse, the center of the star remains almost perfectly symmetrical. Courtesy Adam Burrows.