Super Nova

A supernova is an astronomical event that occurs during the last stellar evolutionary stages of a massive star's life, whose dramatic and catastrophic destruction is marked by one final titanic explosion. For a short time, this causes the sudden appearance of a 'new' bright star, before slowly fading from sight over several weeks or months.

how is super nova created

A supernova happens where there is a change in the core, or center, of a star. A change can occur in two different ways, with both resulting in a supernova.

The first type of supernova happens in binary star systems. Binary stars are two stars that orbit the same point. One of the stars, a carbon-oxygen white dwarfs, steals matter from its companion star. Eventually, the white dwarf accumulates too much matter. Having too much matter causes the star to explode, resulting in a supernova.

The second type of supernova occurs at the end of a single star’s lifetime. As the star runs out of nuclear fuel, some of its mass flows into its core. Eventually, the core is so heavy that it cannot withstand its own gravitational force. The core collapses, which results in the giant explosion of a supernova. The sun is a single star, but it does not have enough mass to become a supernova.

A supernova happens where there is a change in the core, or center, of a star. A change can occur in two different ways, with both resulting in a supernova.

The first type of supernova happens in binary star systems. Binary stars are two stars that orbit the same point. One of the stars, a carbon-oxygen white dwarf, steals matter from its companion star. Eventually, the white dwarf accumulates too much matter. Having too much matter causes the star to explode, resulting in a supernova.

The second type of supernova occurs at the end of a single star’s lifetime. As the star runs out of nuclear fuel, some of its mass flows into its core. Eventually, the core is so heavy that it cannot withstand its own gravitational force. The core collapses, which results in the giant explosion of a supernova. The sun is a single star, but it does not have enough mass to become a supernova.

            what is super nova made up of?

The brilliant point of light is the explosion of a star that has reached the end of its life, otherwise known as a supernova. Supernovas can briefly outshine entire galaxies and radiate more energy than our sun will in its entire lifetime. They're also the primary source of heavy elements in the universe.

I'll need to talk about what causes a supernova, because it is somewhat relevant here. Stars live out their lives by burning (via nuclear fusion reactions) light elements like hydrogen into heavier elements like helium in their core. For a star like the sun, this process will go on for about 10 billion years before it runs out of fuel. More massive stars have more fuel to burn, but they go through it much more rapidly, so they actually live shorter lives. When a star runs out of hydrogen, it will try to burn helium into even heavier elements, like carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. If those elements sound familiar, they should. You're a carbon-based lifeform, and you're breathing nitrogen and oxygen as we speak. All of those materials came from the core of some ancient star that exploded and spread its materials around the galaxy, before the Sun and the Earth were even formed! The cartoon on the right shows a deuterium nucleus combining with a tritium nucleus to for an alpha particle (and a stray neutron). Alpha particles are the nuclei of helium atoms, and can be combined with other particles to form all the elements that we commonly see around us.

                        super nova 'effects'

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A supernova is a star explosion – destructive on a scale almost beyond human imagining. If our sun exploded as a supernova, the resulting shock wave probably wouldn’t destroy the whole Earth, but the side of Earth facing the sun would boil away. Scientists estimate that the planet as a whole would increase in temperature to roughly 15 times hotter than our normal sun’s surface. What’s more, Earth wouldn’t stay put in orbit. The sudden decrease in the sun’s mass might free the planet to wander off into space. Clearly, the sun’s distance – 8 light-minutes away – isn’t safe. Fortunately, our sun isn’t the sort of star destined to explode as a supernova. But other stars, beyond our solar system, will. What is the closest safe distance? Scientific literature cites 50 to 100 years as the closest safe distance between Earth and a supernova. Follow the links below to learn more