Supernova explosion From Wolf–Rayet Stars Traced

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Indian astronomers from Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences have tracked a rare supernova explosion and traced it to one of the hottest kind of stars called Wolf–Rayet stars or WR stars.

The rare Wolf–Rayet stars are highly luminous objects a thousand times that of the Sun. They strip their outer hydrogen envelope which is associated with the fusion of Helium and other elements in the massive core.

Supernova

A supernova is the explosive death of a star and often results in the star obtaining the brightness of 100 million suns for a short time.
The extremely luminous burst of radiation expels much or all of a star’s material at a great velocity, driving a shock wave into the surrounding interstellar medium.
These shock waves trigger condensation is a nebula paving the way for the birth of a new star ? if a star has to be born, a star has to die.
A great proportion of primary cosmic rays comes from supernovae.

Supernovae can be triggered in one of two ways:

Type I supernova or Type Ia supernova

Occurs when there is a sudden re-ignition of nuclear fusion on the surface of a degenerate white dwarf in a binary system.
A degenerate white dwarf may accumulate sufficient material from a companion star to raise its core temperature, ignite carbon fusion, and trigger runaway nuclear fusion, completely disrupting the star.

The difference between Nova and Type I supernova

Nova	Type I supernova
In a nova, the system can shine up to a million times brighter than normal.	A supernova is a violent stellar explosion that can shine as brightly as an entire galaxy of billions of normal stars.
As long as it continues to take gas from its companion star, the white dwarf can produce nova outbursts at regular intervals.	If enough gas piles up on the surface of the white dwarf, a runaway thermonuclear explosion blasts the star to bits.

Type II supernova

Type II supernova is a supernova that occurs by the gravitational collapse of the core of a massive star (mostly made of iron). E.g. Supernova of a red supergiant.

Importance of supernova: Creating and dispersing new elements

When a star’s core runs out of hydrogen, the star begins to die out. The dying star expands into a red giant, and this now begins to manufacture carbon by fusing helium atoms.
More massive stars begin a further series of nuclear burning. The elements formed in these stages range from oxygen through to iron.
During a supernova, the star releases very large amounts of energy as well as neutrons, which allows elements heavier than iron, such as uranium and gold, to be produced.

In the supernova explosion, all of these elements are expelled out into space, and new stars are born out of this matter.

Source: PIB

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