Posted on 03/06/2012 1:06:23 AM PST by U-238
Scientists are beginning to sort out the stellar ingredients that produce a type 1a supernova, a type of cosmic explosion that has been used to measure the universe’s accelerating expansion.
Two teams of researchers presented new data about these supernovas at the American Astronomical Society meeting on January 11. One team confirmed a long-held suspicion about the kind of star that explodes, and the second provided new evidence for what feeds that star until it bursts.
“This is a confirmation of a decades-old belief, namely that a type 1a supernova comes from the explosion of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf,” said Joshua Bloom, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley.
Bloom and his colleagues have been studying supernova 2011fe, the explosion that became visible 21 million light-years away, near the Pinwheel Galaxy, in August. When the PIRATE telescope in Majorca, Spain, wasn’t able to detect the supernova just hours after it exploded, Bloom’s team could set better limits on the size of the star that exploded. They concluded it must have been a white dwarf. When the dwarf — fed by a companion star — gets too heavy, a runaway thermonuclear reaction ignites in its core, producing a fireball bright enough to outshine surrounding galaxies.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
ping
Ping
a runaway thermonuclear reaction ignites in its core, producing a fireball bright enough to outshine surrounding galaxies.
When we can do that, won’t nobody mess with us.
Peace through solar thermonuclear reaction.
Oxycodone and sushi washed down with Grey Goose, with some meth for dessert?
“..........Just hours after it exploded...............”
I thought it exploded 21 million years ago?
:-)
I thought it exploded 21 million years ago?
It was recorded on the universal DVR.
LOL
Thanks U-238.
Thanks U-238. Another “extra, extra” ping to the APoD list.
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