Dr. Chris Richardson
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A supernova ( pl.: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion.
Jul 9, 2024 · A supernova is the biggest explosion that humans have ever seen. Each blast is the extremely bright, super-powerful explosion of a star.
Jun 19, 2023 · According to NASA, supernovas are "the largest explosion that takes place in space." A new supernova called SN 2023ixf has been making headlines since it first burst into view on May 19, 2023...
Jun 15, 2024 · Supernova, any of a class of violently exploding stars whose luminosity after eruption suddenly increases many millions of times its normal level. When a star ‘goes supernova,’ considerable amounts of matter may be blasted into space with such a burst of energy as to enable the star to outshine its entire home galaxy.
A supernova can light the sky up for weeks, and the massive transfer of matter and energy leaves behind a very different star.
Nov 12, 2020 · A supernova is a star's colossal explosion at the end of its life, which can outshine its entire galaxy. Read about causes and types of supernovae here.
Supernovas are some of the brightest events in the universe, occasionally outshining entire galaxies at their peak. Many supernovas can be seen from billions of light-years away, and nearby supernovas in past centuries have been visible during the daytime.
4 days ago · For the 25th anniversary of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, NASA produced ghostly time-lapse videos of two centuries-old stellar eruptions.
5 days ago · Measuring the distance to truly remote objects like galaxies, quasars, and galaxy clusters is a crucial task in astrophysics, particularly when it comes to studying the early universe, but it’s a difficult one to complete. We can only measure the distances to a few nearby objects like the Sun, planets, and some nearby stars directly. […]
Mar 14, 2023 · Massive stars race through their lifecycles, and only some of them go through a brief Wolf-Rayet phase before going supernova, making Webb’s detailed observations of this rare phase valuable to astronomers.
