Superluminous supernovae
Friday, March 10, 2017 - 10:01
in Astronomy & Space
Supernovae, the explosive deaths of massive stars, are among the most momentous events in the cosmos because they disburse into space all of the chemical elements that were produced inside their progenitor stars, including the elements essential for making planets and life. Their bright emission also enables them to be used as probes of the very distant universe. Not least, supernovae are astrophysical laboratories for the study of very energetic phenomena. One class of supernovae consists of single stars whose mass is at least eight solar masses as they finish their lives.