A supernova is the biggest explosion that humans have ever seen. Each blast is the extremely bright, super-powerful explosion of a star.
One type of supernova is caused by the “last hurrah” of a dying massive star. This happens when a star at least five times the mass of our sun goes out with a fantastic bang!
All that energy exploding out does a few things. It scatters the fundamental building blocks of the universe that form the core of most stars: hydrogen, helium, carbon. The resulting cloud of debris forms a nebula, which we talked about recently.
Thus, a supernova is a part of the circle of celestial life. Simba would be proud.
But, that compression from the collapse of a star also causes the core to become super dense. The resulting star core is called a white dwarf. Typically the size of Earth, a white dwarf has the same mass as a star in a much smaller package, making it incredibly dense. It does not give off light thanks to fusion, like most stars. Instead, it gives off thermal radiation that can be visible to scientists.
If the star is big enough, this super dense core can become a black hole.
Credit : Space Centre
Picture Credit : Google
