Supernova Explosions

 What you need to know about a Supernova Explosion

Supernova Explosions are cosmic events that occur when a star reaches the end of its life. They give out massive amounts of energy and heat as the star implodes. When a star dies in a Supernova Explosion, there are three outcomes: either a neutron star or a black hole, or a planetary nebula. But let me tell you how exactly a star dies and what happens while the star is at its end.

Stars are made up of mostly hydrogen atoms which they get from a huge gas cloud or a nebula. Due to the extreme amount of pressure by gravity, hydrogen atoms fuse into helium releasing a tremendous amount of energy. This energy is given out in the form of radiation. Now, there is a balance between the gravitational force exerted on the star and the force of radiation exerted by the fusion of hydrogen atoms. This balance keeps the star alive. Because of the excess pressure by the upper layers and gravity, helium fuses into carbon, carbon into neon, and so on. This keeps repeating and heavier elements keep forming whilst giving out energy through radiations until it reaches iron. The order of fusing elements is: hydrogen, helium, carbon, neon, oxygen, silicon, and iron. Iron cannot be fused further and therefore gets accumulated at the core of a star. 

As time goes by, hydrogen keeps getting fused into helium. Every star takes different amounts of time to exhaust all the hydrogen as it depends on the size. This process continues and gets quicker as we ultimately reach iron. When this happens, the balance between the gravitational force and the radiation force becomes unstable. Gravity exceeds every force and the core (iron) gets compressed with unimaginable pressure. After getting compressed enough, the core collapses and results in a loud boom. This boom is called a supernova explosion. This is also when heavier elements in the universe are formed.

There are two types of supernova explosions. The first one occurs when two white dwarfs gain enough mass to collapse, causing a chain nuclear reaction. The other type of supernova occurs when a star 10, 20, or 50 times the mass of our sun collapses causing a massive nuclear explosion. A star also has its stages of life, one of which included the red giant stage. This stage takes place just before a supernova explosion. Scientists predict that the sun might get to the red giant stage in a few billion years (which means we are safe). 

If a supernova happens close to the earth, it would be super bright and would outshine all other things visible to us for weeks. It would even be visible in the daytime, overpowering the sun. Many scientists predict that a supernova explosion is highly unlikely to happen close to the earth but you never know. Let's say we are safe for now!