Concept in Definition ABC

OnAstronomy is named Supernova to exploding star that releases a huge amount of Energy, becoming visibly sharp in space where nothing in particular had been detected.
In the beginning, this type of phenomenon was called new or simply new stars, however, with the to run of time it was decided to make a new distinction between phenomena of this type but that present a different luminosity. Then, the less luminous ones continued to be called new or novae and the extremely luminous ones were appended with the prefix super, supernovae.

Supernovae are capable of producing flashes of light so intense that they can last from a few weeks to several months. A supernova suddenly intensifies its luminosity until it reaches the maximum, even brighter than the rest of the galaxy, decreasing in intensity until it disappears completely.

Doubts persist regarding their origin and therefore various scenarios have been risking, such as: these are massive stars that no longer can develop thermonuclear reactions in their nucleus and therefore are unable to sustain themselves, collapsing and generating at this time a very strong emission of energy, or failing that, when a white dwarf (stellar remnant that originates when a star with a mass less than 9-10 he used up his

fuel nuclear) member of a closed binary system, receives sufficient mass from its companion, exceeding the Chandrasekhar boundary (the maximum mass of a stable cold star), resulting in the instantaneous fusion of all its nucleus and then shooting a thermonuclear explosion that expels almost all the material that conformed.

Meanwhile, there are different types of supernovae, their differentiation is based on the lines of absorption of different chemical elements that appear in their spectra. The key to its division is given by presence or absence of hydrogen, that is, if the spectrum of a supernova does not contain a hydrogen line will be of the type IOn the other hand, if it is presented, it is classified as type II.

The great contribution recognized to supernovae is the enrichment of the interstellar medium with metals. The greater the amount of metals, the greater the evolution stellar.

Themes in Supernova