Supernova

supernova, plural
supernovae or supernovas, any of a class of violently

exploding stars whose luminosity after eruption suddenly increases many millions of
times its normal level.
The term supernova is derived from nova (Latin: “new”), the name for another type of

exploding star. Supernovae resemble novae in several respects. Both are characterized
by a tremendous, rapid brightening lasting for a few weeks, followed by a slow dimming.
Spectroscopically, they show blue-shifted emission lines, which imply that hot gases are
blown outward. But a supernova explosion, unlike a nova outburst, is a cataclysmic
event for a star, one that essentially ends its active (i.e., energy-generating) lifetime.
When a star “goes supernova,” considerable amounts of its matter, equaling the material
of several Suns, may be blasted into space with such a burst of energy as to enable the
exploding star to outshine its entire home galaxy.
Swift satellite; Supernova 2007uy

Swift satellite; Supernova 2008D
Supernovae explosions release not only tremendous amounts of radio waves and X-
rays but also cosmic rays. Some gamma-ray bursts have been associated with
supernovae. Supernovae also release many of the heavier elements that make up the
components of the solar system, including Earth, into the interstellar medium. Spectral
analyses show that abundances of the heavier elements are greater than normal,
indicating that these elements do indeed form during the course of the explosion. The
shell of a supernova remnant continues to expand until, at a very advanced stage, it
dissolves into the interstellar medium.
Historical supernovae
Know about the various historical supernovae - GRB 111209A, V838 Monocerotis,
N 63A, and SN 1006
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Historically, only seven supernovae are known to have been recorded before the early
17th century. The most famous of them occurred in 1054 and was seen in one of the
horns of the constellation Taurus. The remnants of this explosion are visible today as
the Crab Nebula, which is composed of glowing ejecta of gases flying outward in an
irregular fashion and a rapidly spinning, pulsating neutron star, called a pulsar, in the
centre. The supernova of 1054 was recorded by Chinese and Korean observers; it also
may have been seen by southwestern American Indians, as suggested by certain rock
paintings discovered in Arizona and New Mexico. It was bright enough to be seen during
the day, and its great luminosity lasted for weeks. Other prominent supernovae are
known to have been observed from Earth in 185, 393, 1006, 1181, 1572, and 1604.
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supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Supernova 1987A
The closest and most easily observed of the hundreds of supernovae that have been
recorded since 1604 was first sighted on the morning of Feb. 24, 1987, by the Canadian
astronomer Ian K. Shelton while working at the Las Campanas Observatory in
Chile. Designated SN 1987A, this formerly extremely faint object attained
a magnitude of 4.5 within just a few hours, thus becoming visible to the unaided eye.
The newly appearing supernova was located in the Large Magellanic Cloud at a distance
of about 160,000 light-years. It immediately became the subject of intense observation
by astronomers throughout the Southern Hemisphere and was observed by the Hubble
Space Telescope. SN 1987A’s brightness peaked in May 1987, with a magnitude of about
2.9, and slowly declined in the following months.
Types of supernovae
Supernovae may be divided into two broad classes, Type I and Type II, according to the
way in which they detonate. Type I supernovae may be up to three times brighter than
Type II; they also differ from Type II supernovae in that their spectra contain
no hydrogen lines and they expand about twice as rapidly.
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Type II supernovae
The so-called classic explosion, associated with Type II supernovae, has as progenitor a
very massive star (a Population I star) of at least eight solar masses that is at the end of
its active lifetime. (These are seen only in spiral galaxies, most often near the arms.)
Until this stage of its evolution, the star has shone by means of the nuclear
energy released at and near its core in the process of squeezing and heating
lighter elements such as hydrogen or helium into successively heavier elements—i.e., in
the process of nuclear fusion. Forming elements heavier than iron absorbs rather than
produces energy, however, and, since energy is no longer available, an iron core is built
up at the centre of the aging, heavyweight star. When the iron core becomes too
massive, its ability to support itself by means of the outward explosive thrust of internal
fusion reactions fails to counteract the tremendous pull of its own gravity. Consequently,
the core collapses. If the core’s mass is less than about three solar masses, the collapse
continues until the core reaches a point at which its constituent nuclei and
free electrons are crushed together into a hard, rapidly spinning core. This core consists
almost entirely of neutrons, which are compressed in a volume only 20 km (12 miles)
across but whose combined weight equals that of several Suns. A teaspoonful of this
extraordinarily dense material would weigh 50 billion tons on Earth. Such an object is
called a neutron star.
The supernova detonation occurs when material falls in from the outer layers of the star
and then rebounds off the core, which has stopped collapsing and suddenly presents a
hard surface to the infalling gases. The shock wave generated by this
collision propagates outward and blows off the star’s outer gaseous layers. The amount
of material blasted outward depends on the star’s original mass.
If the core mass exceeds three solar masses, the core collapse is too great to produce a
neutron star; the imploding star is compressed into an even smaller and denser body—
namely, a black hole. Infalling material disappears into the black hole, the gravitational
field of which is so intense that not even light can escape. The entire star is not taken in
by the black hole, since much of the falling envelope of the star either rebounds from the
temporary formation of a spinning neutron core or misses passing through the very
centre of the core and is spun off instead.
Type I supernovae
supernova
Type I supernovae can be divided into three subgroups—Ia, Ib, and Ic—on the basis of
their spectra. The exact nature of the explosion mechanism in Type I generally is still
uncertain, although Ia supernovae, at least, are thought to originate in binary systems
consisting of a moderately massive star and a white dwarf, with material flowing to the
white dwarf from its larger companion. A thermonuclear explosion results if the flow of
material is sufficient to raise the mass of the white dwarf above the Chandrasekhar
limit of 1.44 solar masses. Unlike the case of an ordinary nova, for which the mass flow
is less and only a superficial explosion results, the white dwarf in a Ia supernova
explosion is presumably destroyed completely. Radioactive elements, notably nickel-56,
are formed. When nickel-56 decays to cobalt-56 and the latter to iron-56, significant
amounts of energy are released, providing perhaps most of the light emitted during the
weeks following the explosion.
Type Ia supernovae are useful probes of the structure of the universe, since they all have
the same luminosity. By measuring the apparent brightness of these objects, one also
measures the expansion rate of the universe and that rate’s variation with time. Dark
energy, a repulsive force that is the dominant component (73 percent) of the universe,
was discovered in 1998 with this method. Type Ia supernovae that exploded when the
universe was only two-thirds of its present size were fainter and thus farther away than
they would be in a universe without dark energy. This implies that the expansion rate of
the universe is faster now than it was in the past, a result of the current dominance of
dark energy. (Dark energy was negligible in the early universe.)

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What are the two broad classes of supernovae and how do they differ?

What is the process that leads to a Type II supernova explosion?

supernova, plural

supernovae or supernovas, any of a class of violently

The term supernova is derived from nova (Latin: “new”), the name for another type of

Swift satellite; Supernova 2007uy

Astronomy and Space Quiz

space, celestial bodies, and the solar system.

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