How stars end their lives
History written in the night sky
The cosmic recycling centers
The bizarre remnants left behind
YOUR GOAL
Master of The violent deaths of stars
artiteacher How stars end their lives
Iron in our veins, born in cosmic flames, stardust still remains.
artiteacher A single supernova can briefly outshine an entire galaxy containing billions of stars.
artiteacher Type Ia supernovae occur when a dead white dwarf star steals gas from a companion star until it explodes.
artiteacher Tap the collapsing core of a giant star to discover what triggers a supernova.
Supernova brightness: A single supernova can briefly outshine all the hundreds of billions of stars in its host galaxy combined.
A star that suddenly increases greatly in brightness because of a catastrophic explosion that ejects most of its mass. In 1987, astronomers observed this explosion when a massive star died in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Approximately how fast does the debris from a supernova explosion travel through space?
What is the name of the violent explosion that completely obliterates a white dwarf star?
What is the maximum mass a white dwarf star can reach before exploding, known as the Chandrasekhar limit?
Which type of supernova is triggered when a massive star runs out of fuel and its core collapses?
What element is a white dwarf star primarily made of before it steals matter and explodes?