ethan fukuda cody tamura period 1

SupernovaEthan FukudaCody Tamura

Period 1

What is a supernova?

An exploding star reaching the end of its life

They emit more energy than the sun will in its lifetime

The blast is so bright, it will often outshine a galaxy for up to a couple of months

What is a supernova?

On average, one will occur every 50 years in a galaxy

In the universe, a star explodes every other second (that’s a lot)

The SunThe Sun does not have enough mass to turn into a supernova

However, when it runs out of its nuclear fuel, it will turn into a red giant and vaporize anything in its path

Then it will cool to a white dwarf

Types of supernovae

Type I – a star gathers matter from a neighbor star until a nuclear reaction occurs

Type II – a star runs out of nuclear fuel and implodes under its own gravity

Type ILack a hydrogen signature in their spectrum of light

Believed to originate from white dwarves

Neighbor stars give off gas that collapses the white dwarf and a nuclear reaction occurs

Type I continuedThey lack hydrogen compared to other types of supernovas

They are brighter than type II supernovas

A white dwarf can only support a mass of 1.38 Solar masses, and if it goes above, it will start to collapse than explode

Another way is if a white dwarf combines with another star, which is a very rare event

Type IIMust be several times larger than the Sun

At its death, a star will stratify the elements within itself

They begin to implode

The implosion bounces off the core and creates an explosion

Type II continuedBecause of this implosion, type II supernovas are known as core-collapse supernovas

The difference between a type ll supernova and the other types of supernovas, is that hydrogen is present in its spectrum

A type ll supernova is a massive star, which generates energy by nuclear fusion of elements

The Brightest Supernova

It was seen September 2006, ground based telescopes and from NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory.

This was the biggest and brightest stellar blast ever recorded, and could be a newly discovered type of supernova.

Scientists estimate that the explosion is equal to that of an explosion of a star with 150 times more mass than our sun.

Supernova Videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Uuqg-0jSk