Since the beginning of mankind, people have looked to the stars and space in amazement. It has been the inspiration for people to think about the origins and ends of life, or just marvel in its beauty. As technology has increased in the twenty first century, our wonder has turned from a distanced admiration to a more close and nuanced study and understanding of what surrounds us. One of the most beautiful and fascinating objects in space is a star. Just like anything else in the universe, stars eventually succumb to their own deaths and exhaust their energy, emitting a bright explosion known as a supernova. The following essay will give greater detail to what exactly a supernova is and what types of new understandings have been reached about it.
A supernova is formed when the star dies and its core collapses and is one of the most energetic explosions so far witnessed in the universe (“NASA, Supernova”). At the core of the supernova are stores of nuclear energy, when these are exhausted, the center collapses and releases a huge amount of energy (“NASA, Supernova”). This huge amount of energy is incredibly powerful and has been estimated by scientists to be as bright as 10 billion suns (“Supernovae”). It happens over time and will burn out over the course of several weeks or months. During the explosion, the material of the star is expelled away from the core at a very high speed, thought by some scientists to be 10% of the speed of light (“Wiki, Supernova”). Two scientists, Walter Baade and Fritz Zwicky in 1931, first named it. The last time such an event has been witnessed in the milky way galaxy was 1604 and Keppler’s Star (“Wiki, Supernova”). The supernova creates a visible, electromagnetic radiation. After several months, nothing but the depleted core of the supernova will remain.
There are two types of supernova called type I and type II by researchers. Type I and type II are differentiated by the path of explosion they follow and its remnant mass (“About, Supernova”). Type I supernovas are usually smaller stars than the second type. The core of the star is not as hot as a type II and is not hot enough to fuse carbon. It behind something called a “white dwarf,” which is the remnant of the carbon and oxygen core of the original star. If this star is near more stars, it has intense gravity, which means it can pull material from its neighbors (“About, Supernova). As the white dwarf pulls material from its neighboring stars, it reaches a certain density and then explodes, forming a type I supernova. Through new studies, scientists have also found different ways to tell whether a supernova is type I or type II. Type I for example, is thought to have no carbon. This has also led to a further classification known as type Ia stars. Type Ia has a binary partner of a similar mass. Scientists have also looked to supernova type Ia as proof for an accelerating universe (“Evidence, Supernova”). This has also had large implications for proof of the big bang theory.
A type II supernova occurs when a solo star explodes with no neighbors to consign material from (“Hyper physics”). These stars are usually larger and contain enough carbon in their core to have fusion take place. These are usually considered larger explosions and generally considered the more beautiful of the two types. Here the star falls into its core and then rebounds to create a giant explosion. What happens next to the star depends on the size; either becoming a neutron star, or if bigger, a black hole. Obviously, with how big this explosion is, it could be very dangerous to anything alive near it. Luckily for us, one has never happened close enough to earth to do any damage. However, there is one close enough to earth currently, maybe 3,000 light years away, that could have an effect on earth’s biosphere. There are some scientists that believe that the remnants of one supernova could have been what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs; an explosion that jettisoned noxious gasses and radiation into the earth’s atmosphere.
There are other effects that a supernova can have for other objects surrounding it. It explodes and produces key elements that are heavier than oxygen, and thus has an ongoing impact on the life and evolution of the universe. It has enough energy that it can star formation next to it because of a large and rapid compression(“BBC, Supernova”). They are also surprisingly common. According to one website, they happen as frequently as one every second, somewhere in the universe (“Space, Supernova”). This could theoretically also happen one day to the sun in our Milky Way galaxy, which is actually not a very big star. According to models of a supernova, at one point far in the future the sun will deplete all of its energy from its core and collapse, causing an obviously catastrophic event for all the life forms in the solar system that depend on it for things like gravity, heat and more. This is also one of the beauties of the star because it represents so much when it explodes. It had given so much of its life and resources to the solar system that it’s in and upon explosion it can also kill everything around it. This makes supernovas extremely beautiful and powerful.
Supernovas are very beautiful. If you look at pictures of them, they radiate various colors and look like a mass of energy similar to a science fiction movie. It is very interesting to read about the history of how people have viewed supernovas and just how beautifully those people also think they were. For example, as early as 185 AD it seems that Chinese astronomers witnessed a supernova and recorded it. It is beautiful how bright the supernova is. They come in a wide range of color and seem to radiate beauty from its core outward.
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/snr.html
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/astro/snovcn.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/574464/supernova
http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/supernovae-article/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/sights/supernovae/
http://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/astronomy-and-time/astronomy-facts/stars/supernovae
http://www.universetoday.com/46644/supernova/
http://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/SEMBG13VRRE_OurUniverse_0.html
http://space.about.com/od/nebulae/a/Supernovae.htm
