A star is nearing the end of its existence somewhere in the universe. Perhaps it's a big star collapsing due to its own gravity. Or it might be a dense cinder of a star, eagerly devouring stuff from a partner star until it can no longer support its own mass.

Supernovae


For whatever reason, this star does not silently dissolve into the black fabric of space and time. It goes kicking and screaming across the universe, shattering its star guts and leaving us with unmatched brilliance and a tsunami of particles and atoms. It explodes into a supernova.

1. The oldest documented supernova is about 2000 years old.

Chinese astronomers saw a brilliant light in the sky around 185 AD. These ancient astronomers wrote in the Book of Later Han that it shone like a star, looked to be half the size of a bamboo mat, and did not traverse through the sky like a comet. This cosmic guest gradually faded from view over the following eight months. It was known as a "guest star."

In the 1960s, astronomers discovered signs of this mystery visitor in the debris of a supernova around 8000 light-years distant. The supernova SN 185 is the earliest known supernova in human history.

2. Many of the components that make up our bodies are derived from supernovae.

Everything in your body, from the oxygen you breathe to the calcium in your bones, iron in your blood, and silicon in your computer, was created in the heart of a star.

When a supernova bursts, it causes a chain reaction of nuclear processes. Many of the building components of our world are created by nuclear processes. The majority of the elements found between oxygen and iron come from core-collapse supernovae, which are huge stars that collapse due to their own gravity.

3. Supernovae are neutrino factories

A core-collapse supernova will emit a surge of more than 1058 neutrinos, ethereal particles that may pass unnoticed through practically everything in the cosmos, in a 10-second period.

A light-year of lead would be required to halt a neutrino outside of the centre of a supernova. When a star bursts, though, the core can become so dense that even neutrinos need some time to escape. When neutrinos depart, they bring 99 percent of the supernova's energy with them.

4. Supernovae are powerful particle accelerators

Supernovae are natural space laboratories, capable of accelerating particles to at least 1000 times the energy of particles in the Large Hadron Collider, the world's most powerful collider.

The collision of a supernova's outburst and the surrounding interstellar gas produces a magnetized area known as a shock. As particles enter the shock, they bounce around the magnetic field and accelerate, similar to how a basketball is dribbled closer and closer to the ground. When these high-energy particles, known as cosmic rays, are discharged into space, some of them collide with atoms and create showers of secondary particles that rain down on our heads.

5. Supernovae produce radioactivity

Nuclear processes within supernovae produce radioactive isotopes in addition to elements and neutrinos. Some of this radioactivity emits light signals that we can see in space, such as gamma rays.

This radioactivity contributes to the brightness of supernovae. It also allows us to identify whether any supernovae have exploded near Earth.

6. A close supernova might trigger a major extinction event.

If a supernova occurs close enough to our world, it might be disastrous. Although we don't know exactly how being in the midst of an exploding star might effect humans, we do know that supernovae generate massive amounts of high-energy photons like X-rays and gamma rays. The incoming radiation would deplete the ozone layer in our atmosphere. All of the creatures in our food chain, from the bottom up, would perish in the sun's UV radiation, leaving nothing but dirt and bones on our planet.

A supernova in our own galaxy has been predicted statistically for a long time.

7. Supernovae light can echo through time

A supernova echoes in space as its light waves bounce off cosmic dust clouds and redirect themselves toward Earth, much as your voice does when its sound waves bounce off a surface and return.

Because the echoed light travels a long journey to our planet, this phenomena provides a window into the past, allowing scientists to examine and decipher supernovae from hundreds of years ago. A recent example is SN1572, often known as Tycho's supernova, which happened in 1572.

8. Dark energy was discovered via supernovae.

Because thermonuclear supernovae are so brilliant, and their light brightens and dims in a regular pattern, they can be utilized as cosmological lighthouses. In 1998, scientists predicted that cosmic expansion, which began with the big bang, would likely slow down over time. However, supernova investigations revealed that the universe's expansion was really accelerating.

Scientists can determine the real brightness of supernovae by observing how they brighten and fade over time. Scientists can tell how far away these supernovae are by comparing how brilliant they look to how light they truly are.

9. Supernovae occur at a rate of about 10 per 2nd.

By the conclusion of this sentence, a star will very likely have exploded somewhere in the cosmos. The number of supernovae discovered grows as scientists develop better ways for exploring space. They currently discover approximately a thousand supernovae every year.

When you stare deep into the night sky and see dazzling lights from billions of light-years distant, you're actually seeing back in time. The supernovae discovered by astronomers date back to the beginning of the cosmos.

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