A supernova is the death of a giant star, one that is much bigger than our own sun and it is characterised by a massive output of energy, they are extremely luminous, the explosion expels much or all of the star’s materials and for a time burns more brightly than all the stars in the galaxy. It is thought that if a supernova explosion occurred within five hundred million light years of the Earth, well, the Earth would be no longer. Luckily, they are never so close, in fact they usually happen so far away that they appear to us a mere twinkle. For the brief period that they are visible, all that distinguishes them from other stars in the sky is that they occupy a point of space that was not filled before. Supernova are important to us because without them, we simply would not exist! The Big Bang created many light gases but did not create any heavy elements, for a long time nobody could figure out how they got here. You needed something really hot to forge carbon and iron and other elements which we need to exist. Supernovae explained their existence, elements such as carbon, oxygen and iron are created by nucleosynthesis within the star. In the explosive death of the star, these elements are thrown into the universe where they may be recycled by other stars and gases. During the last thousand years, there have been approximately seven supernovae visible to the naked eye - 1006, 1054, 1181, 1408, 1572, 1604 and 1987.
Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and independent self drive tours of Ireland. Article source Russell Shortt, http://www.exploringireland.net
http://www.visitscotlandtours.com
