Ever wanted to see a star's core collapse?

I've always found space so interesting. However, some people (such as my father) can't really conceive how Astronomers form their theories about the formation of Celestial Bodies, Solar Systems, or Galaxies could ever be conceived accurately without us having to witness the process first hand. It's a bit of a poor argument considering mathematics, patterns, and experimentation have historically been pretty handy tools in making accurate predictions of phenomena we can't readily observe.

Nevertheless, we can find examples of each stage of formation or collapse within the observable universe. Our ability to see what things are made up of, date and age them according to a number of traits and variables through in-world examples gives us at least some way of understanding how the universe works around us.

This study I found particularly interesting because we actually get to witness what it could look like for a star to die. Enjoy!

Traditionally, we’ve done science by observing nature in person or setting up experiments in the lab. Now, a relatively new scientific technique is proving a powerful tool—simulating nature on supercomputers.

A few years ago, Caltech astrophysicists released a supercomputer simulation of a supergiant star’s core collapsing just prior to going supernova. Apart from a stunning visual, simulations like this hinted that Type II supernova explosions were asymmetrical—a guess just recently backed by empirical observation.

Source

a reply to: Ghost147

That is truly amazing. You can just image this on a planetary scale and how much energy is involved with it. Mind blowing.

I wonder what was the reason for the four corner formation in the first three seconds of the vid?

Thanks for posting.

a reply to: Ghost147

Whatever force is expanding the universe is very misunderstood....
So I will put a pin in that for now...

The following is my opinion:
At the center of every Galaxy a super black hole forms as black holes upon black holes coalescing...these super massive black holes will eventually come in contact with their sister black holes who have enveloped their galaxies.
And finally, after a few dozen billion years this super ultra massive black hole will come to critical mass through a heretonow misunderstood quantum process and BANG, begin again a new series of galaxies....wash, rinse, repeat...
Star explosions are a simple means to an end which is the fireworks and star formations of the universe whose life inevitably ends and begins again in a super massive black hole....
All a beautiful circle really.

-Christosterone

Hate to be the first to say this, but I don't 'believe' it. Somebody'll come along with a different theory ... and then what? I say, "Keep an open mind."

FWIW, what does it matter what anyone thinks about what's going on out there? We'll never get there in these skins we're wearing. And if our kids do, they're gonna be the ones truly discovering what's really going on.

-Cheers

a reply to: Ghost147

Could one of you guys do me a favor. I don't know how to and am about to leave for work... but i'd like if someone could overlay a semi-transparent galaxy ontop of this video. It'll take me some time to do it myself as I have to learn how to. You'd be saving me a ton of time here if you are experienced.

originally posted by: Ghost147
I've always found space so interesting. However, some people (such as my father) can't really conceive how Astronomers form their theories about the formation of Celestial Bodies, Solar Systems, or Galaxies could ever be conceived accurately without us having to witness the process first hand.

Explain to your father that the general idea behind a supernova is quite simple, really...

Our sun and other stars exists in a balanced stated between exploding outward and collapsing inward. The tendency to explode outward is due to the thermonuclear reactions happening inside of it. The tendency to collapse inward is due to the star's gravity pulling everything inward. When these two tendencies are in balance, we get a stable star.

However, once a star uses up all of its fuel that keeps its thermonuclear reactions going, those thermonuclear reactions stop. At that point, there is nothing pushing outward anymore -- just the gravity of the stuff in the star tending to pull everything inward. So then the star collapses under its own gravity. The collapse happens so fast that when all of that star-stuff meets in what was the center of the star, that star-stuff bounces off of all of the other collapsing star-stuff, and it all rebounds back out again in a violent explosion -- a supernova.

That hypothesis makes logical sense, even without the math and computer simulations to back it up, but the math and simulations do serve to help prove the hypothesis.

a reply to: Ghost147

Sure it is fascinating...now consider this for a moment...if there are other civilizations in other parts of this universe and that star did that near them then those lives perished....sure would be fascinating if this happen to our star huh?

a reply to: Christosterone

Star explosions are a simple means to an end which is the fireworks and star formations of the universe whose life inevitably ends and begins again in a super massive black hole....

Actually, I'd say supernovae are a means to a beginning since our sun and planets would not have been seeded with the necessary ingredients to harbor life without them.

originally posted by: Christosterone
Star explosions are a simple means to an end which is the fireworks and star formations of the universe whose life inevitably ends and begins again in a super massive black hole....

originally posted by: rockintitz
Actually, I'd say supernovae are a means to a beginning since our sun and planets would not have been seeded with the necessary ingredients to harbor life without them.

Quite right. Just about every atom in the universe heavier than hydrogen and helium were made inside a star. Every atom of any element as heavy or heavier than iron was made inside a supernova.

So, the atoms of iron inside your body, and the gold in your jewelery, and the other metals around you were once part of a supernova explosion. A good portion of the atoms inside your body were once inside a star that exploded.

Without novae and supernovae, there would not be the raw materials to make rocky planets such as Earth. We owe our existence to supernovae explosions that happened long before our solar system came into being, because our solar system needed the stuff expelled from these star explosions in order to have been created in the first place.

Supernovae are the great recycle of the universe, creating the material needed for the next generation of stars, planets, and life itself.

Here is another video for you...



Very interesting indeed.

originally posted by: Snarl
Hate to be the first to say this, but I don't 'believe' it. Somebody'll come along with a different theory ... and then what? I say, "Keep an open mind."

FWIW, what does it matter what anyone thinks about what's going on out there? We'll never get there in these skins we're wearing. And if our kids do, they're gonna be the ones truly discovering what's really going on.

-Cheers

Such models, simulations, and theories, come on the back of data that's based on observable or measurable evidence. It's not like somebody just comes up with a "theory" and we're expected to believe it willy nilly. Besides, if you care to read the articles, astronomers found evidence that supports that computer model of the core collapse.

So yeah, deny ignorance, research a little, and you'll find a lot more worth in science than you think there is.

originally posted by: soulpowertothendegree
a reply to: Ghost147

Sure it is fascinating...now consider this for a moment...if there are other civilizations in other parts of this universe and that star did that near them then those lives perished....sure would be fascinating if this happen to our star huh?

I think our star is supposed to unable to truly go Supernova. Something about the core not being able to collapse enough to form iron which is what starts the supernova explosion.

originally posted by: ketsuko

originally posted by: soulpowertothendegree
a reply to: Ghost147

Sure it is fascinating...now consider this for a moment...if there are other civilizations in other parts of this universe and that star did that near them then those lives perished....sure would be fascinating if this happen to our star huh?

I think our star is supposed to unable to truly go Supernova. Something about the core not being able to collapse enough to form iron which is what starts the supernova explosion.

There are several thresholds that govern whether a star will go supernova or become a black hole:

The Chandrasekhar limit, the maximum stable mass of a white dwarf star, governed by electron degeneracy pressure and the Pauli Exclusion principle preventing two electron wave functions from occupying the same space. There just isn't enough mass to squash everything together.

The Schwarzschild radius governs whether a star will become a black hole. That works out to Rs = 2MG/c^2 where M is mass, R is radius in kilometers, G is the gravitational constant and c is the speed of light. Our star would have to be 2.9 times heavier to become a black hole.