What are Supernovae? Flashcards
What is 1 solar mass in kilograms?
1.99 x 10^30 kg
What is 1 parsec in metres?
3.09 x 10^16 m
What is 1 erg in joules?
10^-7 J
What 2 types of star can result in a supernovae?
Low mass stars (less than 8 solar masses) in binaries = thermonuclear supernovae
High mass stars (greater than 8 solar masses) = core-collapse supernovae
Why are Supernovae useful and important? (3)
- Chemical enrichment of the Universe
- Injecting radiative and turbulent energy into galaxies
- Associated with compact objects: white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes
- Useful distance indicators
- Multi-messenger astronomy
What is Supernovae nucleosynthesis?
Heavy elements created in the high density, high energy conditions of a supernova explosion.
How do supernovae help to sculpt the shapes of their host galaxies?
The explosions stir up the gas in their host galaxies and cause some structures to collapse and helps prevent others from collapsing.
How do supernovae explosions induce new stars to form?
Cold, dense clouds in pressure equilibrium get compressed by supernovae shockwaves.
What could a core of a massive star collapse to?
- Neutron star
2. Black holes if the core is large enough
What are pulsars and how are they observed?
Rapidly spinning neutron stars which emit a beam of radiation from their poles. Every time the magnetic pole rotates into the line of sight we observe a pulse of radiation.
How are supernovae used as distance indicators?
If we know how bright a supernovae is intrinsically and we observe how bright it is the relationship can be used to calculate distance.
