supernovas

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”- Carl Sagan This profound statement by Carl Sagan beautifully captures the essence of our cosmic connection. The stars, those twinkling specks in the night sky, are not just distant suns but the very vessels where the recipe of life was cooked. Among the most dramatic events in this cosmic saga are supernovas, stellar explosions of unimaginable…

When massive stars die, they don't go quietly. Their deaths are a supernova spectacle that can flare brighter than an entire galaxy in the night sky, spewing star-stuff out into the space around them while their core collapses into a black hole or neutron star.We've cataloged a number of these explosions now and analyzed their light to find out what, exactly, stars are made of. And scientists have noticed a curious pattern.A large number of supernovas are mysteriously devoid of hydrogen – suggesting that there must also…

Life and death are part of a cycle. When an animal dies, its body decays, releasing important nutrients into the ground. Those nutrients then help birth other life in the form of plants and microorganisms. It seems that may also be the case for the cosmos, too, as new Webb observations of supernovas could teach us more about how young, early galaxies get fuel for star and planet formation. Supernovas are the deaths of stars and are some of the largest bursts of energy and light released in our universe,…

New supernova research suggests that the energy unleashed when a star dies could be more damaging to nearby planets than previously believed. The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, used data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other X-ray observatories. According to the findings presented in the new study, supernovas may cause damage to planets located within 160 light-years. The danger, the researchers write, lies in an intense set of X-rays unleashed by the supernova. These X-rays may be…

Surprisingly, NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is not a spectacular view of the cosmos, but a periodic table! Read on to know why. Each day, NASA features a different image of our fascinating universe along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Today, the image neither features any breathtaking image of a galaxy in the deep cosmos nor reveals an unseen image of our biggest star, our Sun. Instead, NASA dedicated today's astronomy picture of the day to the periodic table of elements. If you…