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#903450 11/25/15 01:43 AM
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Massive stars are born in the same way as smaller stars like the Sun. But a massive star then burns brighter and hotter, and ends its life in one of the Universe's most stupendous explosions, a supernova. For a time, it shines as bright as entire galaxy of a billion stars.

Death of a Massive Star

Last edited by Mona - Astronomy; 11/11/17 05:20 AM.
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One of the Hubble Space Telescope's best known images is the Crab Nebula. It's a supernova remnant. The supernova was observed by Chinese astronomers in 1054 AD. At the very center is the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star that is rotating at an astonishing 30 times per second.

[Image Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Hester, A. Loll (ASU)]

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Here's a diagram of a pulsar, a spinning neutron star. It's a sphere composed mostly of neutrons, approximately 10 miles in diameter, but with 40 percent more mass than the Sun. As it spins it emits beams of radio waves and other forms of radiation. These beams sweep across space and may appear as though the pulsar is switching 'on' and 'off,' much like a lighthouse. (Credit: NRAO)

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This image of Circinus X-1 was made using X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The rings were produced by an intense flare from a neutron star. (A neutron star is one possible end product of the death of a massive star, the other possibility being a black hole.)

A light echo in the X-rays made it possible to determine the distance to Circinus X-1, which is 30,700 light years. Since it's on the other side of the Milky Way to Earth, it gives a good measure of the size of our galaxy.

Chandra's field of view wasn't big enough to take in the whole of the rings, which is why it's a partial image.

Credits: NASA/CXC/U. Wisconsin/S. Heinz)

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The Witch's Broom Nebula (NGC 6960) is a segment of the vastly larger Veil Nebula. It's a supernova remnant, created by the death of a massive star about ten thousand years ago. The Witch's Broom spans about 35 light-years. The bright star is 52 Cygni, which is a foreground star, not related to the nebula.

Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh

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This Chandra X-ray Observatory image shows the central region of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A, for short). It's the remains of a massive star that exploded in our galaxy. An artist's impression of the carbon-cloaked neutron star is also shown.

The neutron star has a carbon atmosphere about
Quote:
four inches thick, a density similar to diamond and a pressure more than ten times that found at the center of the Earth. The temperature is estimated to be almost two million degrees, [but] the surface gravity on Cas A is 100 billion times stronger than on Earth, resulting in an incredibly thin atmosphere.

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Southampton/W. Ho et al.
Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

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When a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel, it ends in a supernova explosion. Heavy elements made during both its lifetime and death throes are thrown out into an expanding nebula. They're then available for recycling into a future generation of stars. In this picture of Cassiopeia A, we see the expanding cloud of debris in a false-color Chandra X-ray Observatory image. The color coding shows the high-energy emission from different elements - silicon in red, sulfur in yellow, calcium in green and iron in purple.

Look for the bright speck near the center of all these filaments. That's a neutron star, which is the superdense collapsed remains of the core of the star.

Image Credit: NASA, CXC, SAO

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This supernova remnant in Ara (the Altar), RCW 114 is thought to be over 600 light years away, and about 100 light years in diameter. Light from the supernova explosion reached Earth around 20,000 years ago. It's had plenty of time to expand. There's a pulsar within it, the remains of the collapsed core of the star. The picture shows it in red because it's captured the light emitted by energized hydrogen.

Image Credit & Copyright: Andrew Campbell


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