King of Supernovae

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Jorrie Guru Join Date: May 2006 Location: 34.02S, 22.82E Posts: 3817 Good Answers: 68	King of Supernovae 05/08/2007 1:17 AM
	"This was a truly monstrous explosion, a hundred times more energetic than a typical supernova," said Nathan Smith of the University of California at Berkeley, who led a team of astronomers from California and the University of Texas in Austin. "That means the star that exploded might have been as massive as a star can get, about 150 times that of our sun. We've never seen that before." Apparently, this indicates towards a flaw in the theory of how early black holes formed, but at the same time, it is good news for the evolution of the structures of the universe. Read the full NASA story here. __________________ "Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge." -- Kahlil Gibran
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	Pathfinder Tags: astronomy Supernova

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BrainWave Guru Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 962	#1 Re: King of Supernovae 05/08/2007 3:32 PM
	Hello this was put up on the bbc world web page under science and nature earlier to day news travels fast here in the UK. __________________ There's them that knows and them that just thinks they know, whitch are you? Stir the pot and see what rises up. I have catalytic properties I get a reaction going.
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StandardsGuy Guru Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: North America, Earth Posts: 4361 Good Answers: 104	#2 Re: King of Supernovae 05/09/2007 12:04 AM
	Hi Jorrie, I have 2 questions 1) Was this brighter than the Type Ia that are used as standard candles? 2) What did you mean "it is good news for the evolution of the structures of the universe." Regards, S __________________ “I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” - Richard Feynman
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Jorrie Guru Join Date: May 2006 Location: 34.02S, 22.82E Posts: 3817 Good Answers: 68	#3 In reply to #2 Re: King of Supernovae 05/09/2007 12:38 AM
	Hi SG, you asked: "1) Was this brighter than the Type Ia that are used as standard candles? Yes, hundreds of times brighter! Type SN1a happens from stars that has about 1.4 solar masses (the Chandrasekhar limit). The most common source is binary star systems, both below this mass limit, where one companion gobbles up some matter from its companion. When it reaches the 1.4 Suns limit, it goes bang! The monster described here had 100+ times the Chandrasekhar limit in mass - a real fat one. 2) What did you mean "it is good news for the evolution of the structures of the universe."" If all early, very big stars have collapsed into black holes, it would have left less gas containing heavier elements in circulation. This would certainly have retarded the formation of population 2 and 3 stars later. I'm not sure if the actual structures, like clusters and higher, would have developed differently, but I guess it would have... -J __________________ "Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge." -- Kahlil Gibran
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Jorrie Guru Join Date: May 2006 Location: 34.02S, 22.82E Posts: 3817 Good Answers: 68	#4 In reply to #3 Re: King of Supernovae 05/09/2007 1:18 AM
	One correction/clarification: The binary star system can't be made of any old type of star. One of them must be a white dwarf and the other one a red giant. The white dwarf than robs matter from the red giant until it is so gorged that it (the dwarf) self-destructs. Wiki has a nice description of this process in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova under Type 1a. __________________ "Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge." -- Kahlil Gibran
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