... The great German-American astronomer Walter Baade not only pioneered supernova research, he doubled the distance scale of the universe and fathered the idea of stellar populations based on age. ...
... My second reaction was that I was seeing the expansion of a nebula, perhaps resulting from a stellar explosion such as a nova or supernova. Wrong! ...
... Another type of supernova, Type IIs, which mark the end of the lives of very massive stars, produce most of the oxygen we breathe and the carbon that is the basic unit of organic molecules. ...
... These stars race through their evolution in a few million years or less and explode as supernovas, leaving behind neutron stars and black holes. ...
... most exotic and exciting objects in the universe: quasars, gamma-ray bursts, black holes, and both nearby and distant supernovas that have helped us to realize that our expanding universe is actually now accelerating, driven by a mysterious "dark energy ...
... Soon after its birth, a massive star quickly depletes its store of nuclear fuel and then explodes in a fiery burst called a supernova (see "Unveiling Black Holes in a Supernova Cauldron," Nov/Dec 1999, p. 8). ...
... planetary nebulae (the "death shrouds" of smaller stars) and supernova remnants (what remains after the explosion of larger ... For example, a certain type of exploding star (called a Type Ia supernova) generally has the same brightness. ...