|
|
|
| Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, February 03 2013 @ 04:31 PM EST |
eeep!
Tufty
[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Wol on Monday, February 04 2013 @ 03:39 PM EST |
Type Is, that is, iirc. In a massive thermonuclear EXplosion.
When a white dwarf gains mass, at some point it goes over the Chandrasekhar
limit and runaway nuclear fusion commences, blowing the star to bits. Where it
was, there is nothing left. These explosions are considered "standard
candles" because the explosion itself is pretty much identical every time -
same star mass, same star composition, same everything of interest.
A type II supernova is powered by gravity. At some point, thermonuclear fusion
is no longer able to compete with gravity and the centre of the star IMplodes.
Quite how the *im*plosion and disappearance of the internal support structure of
the star causes the external structure to blow *UP* and out, I've never really
understood the official explanation - surely it too would just collapse and
follow the core of the star into the hole?
(I do have my own mental model of what happens, so yes I do understand it to
some extent - I just can't make sense of the formal description.)
Cheers,
Wol[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
|
|
|
|
|
