Supernovae

Definition of Supernovae by Sherri Calvo, at NASA/GSFC Supernova Home Page

"One of the most energetic explosive events known is a supernova. These occur at the end of a star's lifetime, when its nuclear fuel is exhausted and it is no longer supported by the release of nuclear energy. If the star is particularly massive, then its core will collapse and in so doing will release a huge amount of energy. This will cause a blast wave that ejects the star's envelope into interstellar space. The result of the collapse may be, in some cases, a rapidly rotating neutron star that can be observed many years later as a radio pulsar."

Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A) in Large Magellanic Cloud

The brightest supernova since 1604 when the famous astronomer Kepler saw the last supernova in our galaxy, the Milky Way.

This phenomena occured in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LGC) on 23 Febuary 1987. By 18 May 1987, it reached a visual magnitude of 2.9. Because of its progenitor, Sanduleak -69^o202, was blue supergiant rather than a red supergiant, as is typical for type II supernovae.

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