Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Supernova
A supernova (plural supernovae) is a stellar explosion which produces an extremely bright object made of plasma that declines to invisibility over weeks or months. A supernova briefly outshines its entire host galaxy. It would take 10 billion years for the Sun to produce the energy output of an ordinary Type II supernova. Stars beneath the Chandrasekhar limit, such as the Sun, are too light to ever become supernovae and will evolve into white dwarfs.
There are several different types of supernovae and two possible routes to their formation. A massive star may cease to generate fusion energy from fusing the nuclei of atoms in its core, and collapse under the force of its own gravity to form a neutron star or black hole. Alternatively, a white dwarf star may accumulate material from a companion star until it nears its Chandrasekhar limit and undergoes runaway nuclear fusion in its interior, completely disrupting it. This second type of supernova is distinct from a surface thermonuclear explosion on a white dwarf, which is called a nova. In either type of supernova, the resulting explosion expels much or all of the stellar material with great force.
Related Stories
1
2
Space & Time News
June 8, 2026
June 6, 2026 A lightweight new X-ray telescope could finally give scientists something they’ve never had before: a complete chemical map of the Moon. Researchers used detailed mission simulations to show that a compact telescope orbiting the Moon could ...
June 6, 2026 NASA’s PExT terminal has shown that spacecraft can seamlessly communicate through multiple government and commercial networks, a major step beyond traditional single-network systems. The mission is now expanding to test new capabilities that could ...
June 5, 2026 Scientists have proposed a new method for finding tightly bound supermassive black hole pairs by searching for stars that flash repeatedly as their light is magnified by the black holes’ gravity. The timing and brightness of these bursts could ...
May 21, 2026 Mysterious red auroras spotted over Japan were found reaching astonishingly high altitudes, even during space storms considered relatively mild. The discovery suggests hidden solar activity may be ...
May 18, 2026 NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is now aiming for an earlier launch in September 2026. Designed to explore dark matter, dark energy, and distant exoplanets, the telescope will capture massive, ultra-detailed surveys of the cosmos using ...
May 15, 2026 NASA is testing a next-generation space computer chip that could give spacecraft the ability to operate far more independently in deep space. The radiation-hardened processor is showing performance levels hundreds of times beyond current spaceflight ...
May 15, 2026 NASA’s Roman Space Telescope could expose a vast hidden population of neutron stars lurking unseen across the Milky Way. By detecting subtle shifts in starlight caused by gravity, the mission may ...
May 12, 2026 Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have created the clearest map yet of the universe’s “cosmic web” — the enormous hidden structure that connects galaxies across space. By ...
May 11, 2026 NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is about to pull off a dramatic close flyby of Mars, skimming just 2,800 miles above the planet to get a powerful gravitational boost on its journey to the mysterious metal-rich asteroid Psyche. The maneuver will save ...
May 11, 2026 NASA’s Curiosity rover had an unexpectedly stubborn Mars souvenir after drilling into a rock nicknamed “Atacama” — the entire chunk ripped loose from the ground and stayed stuck to the rover’s drill. Engineers watched as Curiosity shook, ...
May 6, 2026 A bold step toward returning humans to the Moon is underway with Blue Origin’s uncrewed MK1 “Endurance” lander, designed to test the technologies that future astronauts will rely on. Built in ...
May 6, 2026 A powerful new electromagnetic thruster has taken a major step forward after a successful high-energy test at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Fueled by lithium vapor and driven by intense magnetic forces, the experimental engine reached ...
Latest Headlines
updated 12:56 pm ET
June 8, 2026 What if our biggest idea about reality is built on a hidden misunderstanding? A new philosophical look at space-time challenges the popular view that the past, present, and future all exist together ...
June 5, 2026 Scientists have uncovered a surprising force that may help explain how binary star systems form so quickly. New supercomputer simulations show that magnetic fields surrounding newborn stars can act ...
June 4, 2026 NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has uncovered unusual chemistry in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, including the first direct detection of methane on ...
June 3, 2026 June's night sky delivers several must-see events, starting with a close encounter between Venus and Jupiter after sunset. Mercury joins the pair to form a rare three-planet lineup, while the Moon ...
June 2, 2026 Astronomers have finally cracked the mystery behind a strange class of repeating cosmic signals that has baffled scientists for years. Using ...
June 1, 2026 A stunning spiral galaxy called Messier 88 is racing through the crowded Virgo Cluster on a journey that will dramatically reshape its future. At its heart lies a supermassive black hole about 100 ...
June 1, 2026 NASA’s Roman Space Telescope could revolutionize the search for alien worlds by discovering around 100,000 exoplanets—far more than all previous missions combined. It will look deep into ...
May 29, 2026 A decades-old mystery about Saturn has finally been solved thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope. Scientists discovered that Saturn’s changing “rotation rate” was never caused by the planet ...
May 29, 2026 Scientists say moons around rogue planets wandering through the galaxy could remain warm enough for life thanks to tidal heating and hydrogen-rich atmospheres. These dark, starless worlds may have ...
May 27, 2026 A giant planet nearly 700 light-years away has a bizarre daily weather cycle where mineral clouds appear every morning and vanish by nightfall. Using ...