Latest Supernovae Stories
Exploding stars are the "factories" that produce all the heavy elements found, among other places, in our bodies. In this sense, we are all stardust. These exploding stars "“ supernovae "“ are highly energetic events that can occasionally light up the night sky. Such an explosion generally involves disruption in the balance between gravity "“ which pulls the star's material inward "“ and the thermonuclear reaction at the star's core "“ which heats it and pushes it...
WASHINGTON, LONDON and HONG KONG, May 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- SuperNova Diagnostics®, Inc., a privately-held global diagnostics company for human and non-human health applications, today announced it has been selected to present at The Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs (SVASE) annual Launch: Silicon Valley 2011 at Microsoft's Mountain View, California campus on Tuesday, June 7, 2011 at 1:15 p.m. PDT. The presentation will include an overview of SuperNova's proprietary...
A local supernova factory has recently started production, according to a wealth of new data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory on the Carina Nebula. This discovery may help astronomers better understand how some of the Galaxy's heaviest and youngest stars race through their lives and release newly-forged elements into their surroundings.Located in the Sagittarius-Carina arm of the Milky Way a mere 7,500 light years from Earth, the Carina Nebula has long been a favorite target for...
WASHINGTON, May 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The famous Crab Nebula supernova remnant has erupted in an enormous flare five times more powerful than any flare previously seen from the object. On April 12, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope first detected the outburst, which lasted six days. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The nebula is the wreckage of an exploded star that emitted light which reached Earth in the year 1054. It is located 6,500...
Astronomers may now know the cause of an historic supernova explosion that is an important type of object for investigating dark energy in the universe. The discovery, made using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, also provides strong evidence that a star can survive the explosive impact generated when a companion star goes supernova.The new study examined the remnant of a supernova observed by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe in 1572. The object, dubbed Tycho for short, was formed by a Type...
Using supercomputers to understand the super stars of the cosmosIs it a high-speed graphic animation of a yellow-golden cauliflower erupting in fast motion? No. Maybe it's some kind of time-lapse, computer-generated X-ray of a brain as it grows over years. No.It's one of many images Princeton University astrophysicist Adam Burrows has conjured up, using supercomputers to simulate an explosion deep within a star called a supernova. It's not a run-of-the-mill thermonuclear explosion that fuels...
Legend has it that a noon-day star appeared in 1630 at the birth of King Charles II, who later was restored to the English monarchy after his father was executed, reports AFP.Edward Matthew, an English writer, described the event as "The Most Glorious Star"¦ shining most brightly in a Miraculous manner in the Face of the Sun," in 1661. He writes in a pamphlet, "Never any Starre [had] appeared before at the birth of any (the Highest humane Hero) except our Savior."Historians have always...
White dwarfs are dead stars that pack a Sun's-worth of matter into an Earth-sized ball. Astronomers have just discovered an amazing pair of white dwarfs whirling around each other once every 39 minutes. This is the shortest-period pair of white dwarfs now known. Moreover, in a few million years they will collide and merge to create a single star."These stars have already lived a full life. When they merge, they'll essentially be 'reborn' and enjoy a second life," said Smithsonian astronomer...
Pattern of X-ray 'stripes' in supernova remnant could explain how cosmic rays are producedThe discovery of a pattern of X-ray "stripes" in the remains of an exploded star may provide the first direct evidence that a cosmic event can accelerate particles to energies a hundred times higher than achieved by the most powerful particle accelerator on Earth.This result comes from a very long observation of the Tycho supernova remnant with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. It could explain...
NASA said on Wednesday that its Chandra X-ray Observatory discovered the first direct evidence for a superfluid, a bizarre, friction-free state of matter at the core of a neutron star. According to the space agency, superfluids created in laboratories on Earth exhibit remarkable properties, such as the ability to climb upward and escape airtight containers. NASA said the finding has important implications for understanding nuclear interactions in matter at the highest known densities. Neuron...
Latest Supernovae Reference Libraries
White Dwarf -- A white dwarf is a a star supported by electron degeneracy. A star like our Sun will become a white dwarf when it has exhausted its nuclear fuel. Near the end of its nuclear burning stage, such a star goes through a red giant phase and then expels most of its outer material (creating a planetary nebula) until only the hot (T > 100,000 K) core remains, which then settles down to become a young white dwarf. A typical white dwarf is half as massive as the Sun, yet only...
Supernova Remnant -- A supernova remnant (SNR) is made up of the materials left behind by the gigantic explosion of a star in a supernova. There are two possible routes to this end: either a massive star may cease to generate fusion energy in its core, and collapse inward under the force of its own gravity, or a white dwarf star may accumulate material from a companion star until it reaches a critical mass and undergoes a similar collapse. In either case, the resulting supernova...
Supernova -- A supernova is a star that increases its brightness drastically within a matter of days, making it appear as if a "new" star was born (hence "nova"). The "super" prefix distinguishes it from a mere nova, which also involves a star increasing in brightness, though to a lesser extent and through a much different mechanism. Astronomers have classified supernovae in several classes, according to the lines of different elements that appear in their spectra. The first...
Stellar Evolution -- Stellar evolution is the process of formation, life, and death of stars. It is one of the major topics of cosmogony. Star Birth and Life A star starts out as an enormous cloud of gas and dust many light-years across. Star formation begins when the cloud begins to condense under its own gravity. The processes that initiate this contraction are not fully understood. The cloud fragments fuse into stellar mass clouds known as protostars. Protostars do not emit...
Nova -- A nova is an enormous nuclear explosion caused by the accretion of hydrogen onto the surface of a white dwarf star. When a white dwarf has a close companion star, the companion will often begin to have its outer atmosphere drawn away from it by the white dwarf's gravity as the companion star ages and expands into a red giant. The gases so captured consist primarily of hydrogen and helium, the two principle constituents of matter in the universe. The gases are compacted on the...
![NASA\](/media/gallery/fermi-gamma-ray-space-telescope/thumbs/thumbs_751995main_ctb109_large.jpg "NASA\")
