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Powerful Supernova May Be Related To Death Spasms of First Stars

Posted by Zonk on from the we-need-a-few-more-heavy-elements-out-here dept.

necro81 writes "The New York Times is reporting on a discovery from a team of UC Berkley researchers, who may have discovered the brightest stellar explosion ever observed. Observations of the cataclysmic explosion of a 100- to 200-solar-mass star began last September, based on data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The researchers believe that the explosion is similar to the death spasms of the first stars in the universe. The super-massive star's collapse is believed to have been so energetic as to create unstable electron-positron pairs that tore the star apart before it could collapse into a black hole — seeding the universe with heavier elements."

7 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Oddity by tomstdenis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They talk at the end about a star 7500 LY away that might "go supernova soon." It should probably be pointed out that it could have already gone supernova 6000 years ago and we'd not know about it.

    I guess they should say "might see if it went supernova soon."

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  2. Eta Carinae by tiluki · · Score: 5, Interesting
    What is more impressive about this story is the footnote of similar activity recently exhibited by Eta Carinae - a much closer star to us (well, 7500 light years). To quote the BBC article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6633609.stm:

    Dave Pooley, at the University of California at Berkeley, said if Eta Carinae were to explode "it would be so bright that you would see it during the day, and you could even read a book by its light at night". Eta Carinae's death could be "the most spectacular star show in history." Is it just me, or does that sound a little bit too close...
    1. Re:Eta Carinae by secPM_MS · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Eta Carinae is a Luminous Blue Variable, a very massive star (~ 80 to 120 Msolar) that is quite unstable. Last century it ejected ~ 10 solar masses of material. It is also a binary star, with a companion estimated to be ~ 80 solar masses or so. The orbit is significantly inclined from our point of view, so the spin axis is not pointed at all towards us, which is very fortunate indeed. I seem to remember one article a year or so ago that estimated that Eta Carinae was spinning at ~ 90 % of its breakup speed. This is very fast indeed, and if true, would mean that it would be a potential gamma ray burst source when it goes supernovae. Note that it would have to shed its atmosphere first and become a Wolf Rayet star before the GRB could punch through the stellar atmosphere.

      Pair creation supernovae were predicted decades ago. The conditions for their formation are a bit strict and they do not appear to be very common at this point. Black hole creation is probably must more common. If we have seen one now, it is a good reinforcement of old theoretical work.

  3. Re:we should we believe the astrophysicists now? by Notquitecajun · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I think this comes close to the problems with scientific debate and creation; one places a definition on "theory" that is far too close to "universal law" (which doesn't particularly exist) and the other defines it far too closely to "hypothesis."

    Both, I have found, tend to be far too dogmatic in their beliefs on the debate (or, dare I say it, faith).

  4. E.L.E by TheSciBoy · · Score: 4, Interesting
    What I found interesting was that Eta Carinae apparently behaves the same way as the other star, which begs the question: could we survive the supernova? The explosions of stars certainly are powerful enough to destroy such delicate lives as ours if they are close enough. Question is, is Eta Carinae close enough?

    Now that's an Extinction Level Event.

    "Ooh! Aaah!" dead

    --
    Badgers, we don't need no stinking badgers! - UHF
    1. Re:E.L.E by OldSoldier · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yes and no. Astronomers have been wondering about Eta Carinae for awhile. It appears that it can produce "gamma ray bursts" that are powerful enough to wipe out life even here, 7500 light years away, but current thinking is that GRBs are focused events, gamma rays streaming along the magnetic axis of the exploding star and fortunately Eta Carinae's axes are not pointed in our direction.

      I'm not endorsing this link http://people.roma2.infn.it/~aldo/dar01.pdf but it does corroborate what I've heard on TV science shows.

  5. Re:Time-lapse video? by MollyB · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Many thanks to you & the OP. You (both) are very tactful, as I skimmed right past the relevant Wiki section you noted so graciously. I'll try to do more exhaustive research before jumping in with questions next time.