Supernova - death or the beginning of a new life?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Quite rarely, people can observe such an interesting phenomenon as a supernova. But this is no ordinary star birth, because up to ten stars are born in our galaxy every year. A supernova is a phenomenon that can be observed only once every hundred years. Stars die so bright and beautiful.

To understand why a supernova explosion occurs, you need to go back to the very birth of a star. Hydrogen flies in space, which gradually gathers into clouds. When a cloud is large enough, densified hydrogen begins to collect at its center, and the temperature gradually rises. Under the influence of gravity, the core of the future star is assembled, where, due to the increased temperature and increasing gravity, the thermonuclear fusion reaction begins to take place. From how much hydrogen a star can attract to itself, its future size depends - from a red dwarf to a blue giant. Over time, the balance of the work of the star is established, the outer layers put pressure on the core, and the core expands due to the energy of thermonuclear fusion.

A star is a kind of thermonuclear reactor, and, like any reactor,someday it will run out of fuel - hydrogen. But for us to see how the supernova exploded, a little more time must pass, because in the reactor, instead of hydrogen, another fuel (helium) was formed, which the star will begin to burn, turning it into oxygen, and then into carbon. And this will continue until iron is formed in the core of the star, which, during a thermonuclear reaction, does not release energy, but consumes it. Under such conditions, a supernova explosion can occur.

The core becomes heavier and colder, causing the lighter upper layers to fall on top of it. The fusion reaction starts again, but this time faster than usual, as a result of which the star simply explodes, scattering its matter into the surrounding space. Depending on the size of the star, small "stars" may also remain after it. The most famous of them are black holes (substance with an incredibly high density, which has a very large force of attraction and can emit light). Such formations remain after very large stars that have managed to produce thermonuclear fusion to very heavy elements. Smaller stars leave behind small neutron or iron stars, which emit almost no light, but also have a high density of matter.

New and supernovae are closely related, because the death of one of them can mean the birth of a new one. This process continues indefinitely. A supernova carries millions of tons of matter into the surrounding space, which again gathers into clouds, andthe formation of a new celestial body begins. Scientists claim that all the heavy elements that are in our solar system, the Sun, during its birth, “stole” from a star that once exploded. Nature is amazing, and the death of one thing always means the birth of something new. In outer space, matter decays, and in the stars it is formed, creating a great balance of the Universe.