123-615: Boss General Catalogue ( GC , sometimes General Catalogue ) is an astronomical catalogue containing 33,342 stars . It was compiled by Benjamin Boss (who lived from 1880 to 1970) and published in the United States in 1936. Its original name was General Catalogue of 33,342 Stars and it superseded the previous Preliminary General Catalogue of 6,188 Stars for the Epoch 1900 published in 1910 by Benjamin's father Lewis Boss . This book
246-457: A neutron star or black hole , or is completely destroyed to form a diffuse nebula . The peak optical luminosity of a supernova can be comparable to that of an entire galaxy before fading over several weeks or months. The last supernova directly observed in the Milky Way was Kepler's Supernova in 1604, appearing not long after Tycho's Supernova in 1572, both of which were visible to
369-456: A protoplanetary disk and powered mainly by the conversion of gravitational energy. The period of gravitational contraction lasts about 10 million years for a star like the sun, up to 100 million years for a red dwarf. Early stars of less than 2 M ☉ are called T Tauri stars , while those with greater mass are Herbig Ae/Be stars . These newly formed stars emit jets of gas along their axis of rotation, which may reduce
492-467: A stellar wind of particles that causes a continual outflow of gas into space. For most stars, the mass lost is negligible. The Sun loses 10 M ☉ every year, or about 0.01% of its total mass over its entire lifespan. However, very massive stars can lose 10 to 10 M ☉ each year, significantly affecting their evolution. Stars that begin with more than 50 M ☉ can lose over half their total mass while on
615-487: A brief period of carbon fusion before the core becomes degenerate. During the AGB phase, stars undergo thermal pulses due to instabilities in the core of the star. In these thermal pulses, the luminosity of the star varies and matter is ejected from the star's atmosphere, ultimately forming a planetary nebula. As much as 50 to 70% of a star's mass can be ejected in this mass loss process. Because energy transport in an AGB star
738-496: A burst of electron capture and inverse beta decay . The shockwave formed by this sudden collapse causes the rest of the star to explode in a supernova. Supernovae become so bright that they may briefly outshine the star's entire home galaxy. When they occur within the Milky Way, supernovae have historically been observed by naked-eye observers as "new stars" where none seemingly existed before. A supernova explosion blows away
861-410: A continuous image due to the effect of refraction from sublunary material, citing his observation of the conjunction of Jupiter and Mars on 500 AH (1106/1107 AD) as evidence. Early European astronomers such as Tycho Brahe identified new stars in the night sky (later termed novae ), suggesting that the heavens were not immutable. In 1584, Giordano Bruno suggested that the stars were like
984-440: A difference between " fixed stars ", whose position on the celestial sphere does not change, and "wandering stars" ( planets ), which move noticeably relative to the fixed stars over days or weeks. Many ancient astronomers believed that the stars were permanently affixed to a heavenly sphere and that they were immutable. By convention, astronomers grouped prominent stars into asterisms and constellations and used them to track
1107-412: A journal article came the following year in a publication by Knut Lundmark , who may have coined it independently. Compared to a star's entire history, the visual appearance of a supernova is very brief, sometimes spanning several months, so that the chances of observing one with the naked eye are roughly once in a lifetime. Only a tiny fraction of the 100 billion stars in a typical galaxy have
1230-518: A much larger gravitationally bound structure, such as a star cluster or a galaxy. The word "star" ultimately derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "h₂stḗr" also meaning star, but further analyzable as h₂eh₁s- ("to burn", also the source of the word "ash") + -tēr (agentive suffix). Compare Latin stella , Greek aster , German Stern . Some scholars believe the word is a borrowing from Akkadian " istar " ( Venus ). "Star"
1353-546: A net release of energy. Some massive stars, particularly luminous blue variables , are very unstable to the extent that they violently shed their mass into space in events supernova impostors , becoming significantly brighter in the process. Eta Carinae is known for having underwent a supernova impostor event, the Great Eruption, in the 19th century. As a star's core shrinks, the intensity of radiation from that surface increases, creating such radiation pressure on
SECTION 10
#17327912525391476-453: A non-rotating star), it would no longer be able to support the bulk of its mass through electron degeneracy pressure and would begin to collapse. However, the current view is that this limit is not normally attained; increasing temperature and density inside the core ignite carbon fusion as the star approaches the limit (to within about 1%) before collapse is initiated. In contrast, for a core primarily composed of oxygen, neon and magnesium,
1599-557: A one or two-letter designation. The first 26 supernovae of the year are designated with a capital letter from A to Z . Next, pairs of lower-case letters are used: aa , ab , and so on. Hence, for example, SN 2003C designates the third supernova reported in the year 2003. The last supernova of 2005, SN 2005nc, was the 367th (14 × 26 + 3 = 367). Since 2000, professional and amateur astronomers have been finding several hundred supernovae each year (572 in 2007, 261 in 2008, 390 in 2009; 231 in 2013). Historical supernovae are known simply by
1722-675: A rare type of very fast supernova with unusually strong calcium lines in their spectra. Models suggest they occur when material is accreted from a helium -rich companion rather than a hydrogen -rich star. Because of helium lines in their spectra, they can resemble type Ib supernovae, but are thought to have very different progenitors. The supernovae of type II can also be sub-divided based on their spectra. While most type II supernovae show very broad emission lines which indicate expansion velocities of many thousands of kilometres per second , some, such as SN 2005gl , have relatively narrow features in their spectra. These are called type IIn, where
1845-463: A series of star maps and applied Greek letters as designations to the stars in each constellation. Later a numbering system based on the star's right ascension was invented and added to John Flamsteed 's star catalogue in his book "Historia coelestis Britannica" (the 1712 edition), whereby this numbering system came to be called Flamsteed designation or Flamsteed numbering . The internationally recognized authority for naming celestial bodies
1968-614: A set of nominal solar values (defined as SI constants, without uncertainties) which can be used for quoting stellar parameters: The solar mass M ☉ was not explicitly defined by the IAU due to the large relative uncertainty ( 10 ) of the Newtonian constant of gravitation G . Since the product of the Newtonian constant of gravitation and solar mass together ( G M ☉ ) has been determined to much greater precision,
2091-499: A star begins with gravitational instability within a molecular cloud, caused by regions of higher density—often triggered by compression of clouds by radiation from massive stars, expanding bubbles in the interstellar medium, the collision of different molecular clouds, or the collision of galaxies (as in a starburst galaxy ). When a region reaches a sufficient density of matter to satisfy the criteria for Jeans instability , it begins to collapse under its own gravitational force. As
2214-434: A star of more than 9 solar masses expands to form first a blue supergiant and then a red supergiant . Particularly massive stars (exceeding 40 solar masses, like Alnilam , the central blue supergiant of Orion's Belt ) do not become red supergiants due to high mass loss. These may instead evolve to a Wolf–Rayet star , characterised by spectra dominated by emission lines of elements heavier than hydrogen, which have reached
2337-703: A stellar companion to raise its core temperature enough to ignite carbon fusion , at which point it undergoes runaway nuclear fusion, completely disrupting it. There are three avenues by which this detonation is theorised to happen: stable accretion of material from a companion, the collision of two white dwarfs, or accretion that causes ignition in a shell that then ignites the core. The dominant mechanism by which type Ia supernovae are produced remains unclear. Despite this uncertainty in how type Ia supernovae are produced, type Ia supernovae have very uniform properties and are useful standard candles over intergalactic distances. Some calibrations are required to compensate for
2460-474: A supernova's spectrum contains lines of hydrogen (known as the Balmer series in the visual portion of the spectrum) it is classified Type II ; otherwise it is Type I . In each of these two types there are subdivisions according to the presence of lines from other elements or the shape of the light curve (a graph of the supernova's apparent magnitude as a function of time). Type I supernovae are subdivided on
2583-407: A white dwarf is no longer a plasma. Eventually, white dwarfs fade into black dwarfs over a very long period of time. In massive stars, fusion continues until the iron core has grown so large (more than 1.4 M ☉ ) that it can no longer support its own mass. This core will suddenly collapse as its electrons are driven into its protons, forming neutrons, neutrinos , and gamma rays in
SECTION 20
#17327912525392706-476: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by self-gravity . The nearest star to Earth is the Sun . Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night ; their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of light. The most prominent stars have been categorised into constellations and asterisms , and many of
2829-449: Is a dimensionless measure of the spectrum's frequency shift. High redshift searches for supernovae usually involve the observation of supernova light curves. These are useful for standard or calibrated candles to generate Hubble diagrams and make cosmological predictions. Supernova spectroscopy, used to study the physics and environments of supernovae, is more practical at low than at high redshift. Low redshift observations also anchor
2952-420: Is cognate (shares the same root) with the following words: asterisk , asteroid , astral , constellation , Esther . Historically, stars have been important to civilizations throughout the world. They have been part of religious practices, divination rituals, mythology , used for celestial navigation and orientation, to mark the passage of seasons, and to define calendars. Early astronomers recognized
3075-500: Is debated and several alternative explanations, such as tidal disruption of a star by a black hole, have been suggested. SN 2013fs was recorded three hours after the supernova event on 6 October 2013, by the Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory . This is among the earliest supernovae caught after detonation, and it is the earliest for which spectra have been obtained, beginning six hours after
3198-454: Is generated, with matter reaching velocities on the order of 5,000–20,000 km/s , or roughly 3% of the speed of light. There is also a significant increase in luminosity, reaching an absolute magnitude of −19.3 (or 5 billion times brighter than the Sun), with little variation. The model for the formation of this category of supernova is a close binary star system. The larger of the two stars
3321-549: Is much variation in this type of event, and, in many cases, there may be no supernova at all, in which case they will have a less luminous light curve than the more normal SN type Ia. Abnormally bright type Ia supernovae occur when the white dwarf already has a mass higher than the Chandrasekhar limit, possibly enhanced further by asymmetry, but the ejected material will have less than normal kinetic energy. This super-Chandrasekhar-mass scenario can occur, for example, when
3444-409: Is primarily by convection , this ejected material is enriched with the fusion products dredged up from the core. Therefore, the planetary nebula is enriched with elements like carbon and oxygen. Ultimately, the planetary nebula disperses, enriching the general interstellar medium. Therefore, future generations of stars are made of the "star stuff" from past stars. During their helium-burning phase,
3567-579: Is required. It is therefore important to discover them well before they reach their maximum. Amateur astronomers , who greatly outnumber professional astronomers, have played an important role in finding supernovae, typically by looking at some of the closer galaxies through an optical telescope and comparing them to earlier photographs. Toward the end of the 20th century, astronomers increasingly turned to computer-controlled telescopes and CCDs for hunting supernovae. While such systems are popular with amateurs, there are also professional installations such as
3690-575: Is the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The International Astronomical Union maintains the Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) which catalogs and standardizes proper names for stars. A number of private companies sell names of stars which are not recognized by the IAU, professional astronomers, or the amateur astronomy community. The British Library calls this an unregulated commercial enterprise , and
3813-491: Is the Orion Nebula . Most stars form in groups of dozens to hundreds of thousands of stars. Massive stars in these groups may powerfully illuminate those clouds, ionizing the hydrogen, and creating H II regions . Such feedback effects, from star formation, may ultimately disrupt the cloud and prevent further star formation. All stars spend the majority of their existence as main sequence stars , fueled primarily by
Boss General Catalogue - Misplaced Pages Continue
3936-414: Is the first to evolve off the main sequence , and it expands to form a red giant . The two stars now share a common envelope, causing their mutual orbit to shrink. The giant star then sheds most of its envelope, losing mass until it can no longer continue nuclear fusion . At this point, it becomes a white dwarf star, composed primarily of carbon and oxygen. Eventually, the secondary star also evolves off
4059-473: The Algol paradox , where the most-evolved star in a system is the least massive. Supernova A supernova ( pl. : supernovae or supernovas ) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star . A supernova occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star , or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion . The original object, called the progenitor , either collapses to
4182-530: The Andromeda Galaxy . A second supernova, SN 1895B , was discovered in NGC 5253 a decade later. Early work on what was originally believed to be simply a new category of novae was performed during the 1920s. These were variously called "upper-class Novae", "Hauptnovae", or "giant novae". The name "supernovae" is thought to have been coined by Walter Baade and Zwicky in lectures at Caltech in 1931. It
4305-518: The Chandrasekhar limit ; electron capture ; pair-instability ; or photodisintegration . The table below lists the known reasons for core collapse in massive stars, the types of stars in which they occur, their associated supernova type, and the remnant produced. The metallicity is the proportion of elements other than hydrogen or helium, as compared to the Sun. The initial mass is the mass of
4428-570: The Eta Carinae Great Outburst was noted. Supernovae in M101 (1909) and M83 (1923 and 1957) were also suggested as possible type IV or type V supernovae. These types would now all be treated as peculiar type II supernovae (IIpec), of which many more examples have been discovered, although it is still debated whether SN 1961V was a true supernova following an LBV outburst or an impostor. Supernova type codes, as summarised in
4551-607: The Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope . The Supernova Early Warning System (SNEWS) project uses a network of neutrino detectors to give early warning of a supernova in the Milky Way galaxy. Neutrinos are subatomic particles that are produced in great quantities by a supernova, and they are not significantly absorbed by the interstellar gas and dust of the galactic disk. Supernova searches fall into two classes: those focused on relatively nearby events and those looking farther away. Because of
4674-526: The Large Magellanic Cloud , a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. Theoretical studies indicate that most supernovae are triggered by one of two basic mechanisms: the sudden re-ignition of nuclear fusion in a white dwarf , or the sudden gravitational collapse of a massive star's core . Supernovae can expel several solar masses of material at speeds up to several percent of the speed of light . This drives an expanding shock wave into
4797-701: The M87 and M100 galaxies of the Virgo Cluster , as well as luminous stars in some other relatively nearby galaxies. With the aid of gravitational lensing , a single star (named Icarus ) has been observed at 9 billion light-years away. The concept of a constellation was known to exist during the Babylonian period. Ancient sky watchers imagined that prominent arrangements of stars formed patterns, and they associated these with particular aspects of nature or their myths. Twelve of these formations lay along
4920-526: The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection issued a violation against one such star-naming company for engaging in a deceptive trade practice. Although stellar parameters can be expressed in SI units or Gaussian units , it is often most convenient to express mass , luminosity , and radii in solar units, based on the characteristics of the Sun. In 2015, the IAU defined
5043-461: The angular momentum of the collapsing star and result in small patches of nebulosity known as Herbig–Haro objects . These jets, in combination with radiation from nearby massive stars, may help to drive away the surrounding cloud from which the star was formed. Early in their development, T Tauri stars follow the Hayashi track —they contract and decrease in luminosity while remaining at roughly
Boss General Catalogue - Misplaced Pages Continue
5166-413: The expansion of the universe , the distance to a remote object with a known emission spectrum can be estimated by measuring its Doppler shift (or redshift ); on average, more-distant objects recede with greater velocity than those nearby, and so have a higher redshift. Thus the search is split between high redshift and low redshift, with the boundary falling around a redshift range of z=0.1–0.3, where z
5289-632: The interstellar medium . These elements are then recycled into new stars. Astronomers can determine stellar properties—including mass, age, metallicity (chemical composition), variability , distance , and motion through space —by carrying out observations of a star's apparent brightness , spectrum , and changes in its position in the sky over time. Stars can form orbital systems with other astronomical objects, as in planetary systems and star systems with two or more stars. When two such stars orbit closely, their gravitational interaction can significantly impact their evolution. Stars can form part of
5412-416: The naked eye . The remnants of more recent supernovae have been found, and observations of supernovae in other galaxies suggest they occur in the Milky Way on average about three times every century. A supernova in the Milky Way would almost certainly be observable through modern astronomical telescopes. The most recent naked-eye supernova was SN 1987A , which was the explosion of a blue supergiant star in
5535-453: The photographic magnitude . The development of the photoelectric photometer allowed precise measurements of magnitude at multiple wavelength intervals. In 1921 Albert A. Michelson made the first measurements of a stellar diameter using an interferometer on the Hooker telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory . Important theoretical work on the physical structure of stars occurred during
5658-533: The plural form supernovae ( /- v iː / ) or supernovas and is often abbreviated as SN or SNe. It is derived from the Latin word nova , meaning ' new ' , which refers to what appears to be a temporary new bright star. Adding the prefix "super-" distinguishes supernovae from ordinary novae, which are far less luminous. The word supernova was coined by Walter Baade and Fritz Zwicky , who began using it in astrophysics lectures in 1931. Its first use in
5781-500: The proper motion of stars , the Boss General Catalogue also lists the magnitude and spectral type of the catalogued stars. It was also much more thorough and complete; it included all stars brighter than magnitude seven (and some below that as well). This article about an astronomy -related book is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This space - or spaceflight -related article
5904-555: The thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium in its core. This process releases energy that traverses the star's interior and radiates into outer space . At the end of a star's lifetime as a fusor , its core becomes a stellar remnant : a white dwarf , a neutron star , or—if it is sufficiently massive—a black hole . Stellar nucleosynthesis in stars or their remnants creates almost all naturally occurring chemical elements heavier than lithium . Stellar mass loss or supernova explosions return chemically enriched material to
6027-431: The "n" stands for "narrow". A few supernovae, such as SN 1987K and SN 1993J , appear to change types: they show lines of hydrogen at early times, but, over a period of weeks to months, become dominated by lines of helium. The term "type IIb" is used to describe the combination of features normally associated with types II and Ib. Type II supernovae with normal spectra dominated by broad hydrogen lines that remain for
6150-535: The 11th century, the Persian polymath scholar Abu Rayhan Biruni described the Milky Way galaxy as a multitude of fragments having the properties of nebulous stars, and gave the latitudes of various stars during a lunar eclipse in 1019. According to Josep Puig, the Andalusian astronomer Ibn Bajjah proposed that the Milky Way was made up of many stars that almost touched one another and appeared to be
6273-476: The 2015 IAU nominal constants will remain the same SI values as they remain useful measures for quoting stellar parameters. Large lengths, such as the radius of a giant star or the semi-major axis of a binary star system, are often expressed in terms of the astronomical unit —approximately equal to the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun (150 million km or approximately 93 million miles). In 2012,
SECTION 50
#17327912525396396-413: The IAU defined the astronomical constant to be an exact length in meters: 149,597,870,700 m. Stars condense from regions of space of higher matter density, yet those regions are less dense than within a vacuum chamber . These regions—known as molecular clouds —consist mostly of hydrogen, with about 23 to 28 percent helium and a few percent heavier elements. One example of such a star-forming region
6519-413: The IAU defined the nominal solar mass parameter to be: The nominal solar mass parameter can be combined with the most recent (2014) CODATA estimate of the Newtonian constant of gravitation G to derive the solar mass to be approximately 1.9885 × 10 kg . Although the exact values for the luminosity, radius, mass parameter, and mass may vary slightly in the future due to observational uncertainties,
6642-497: The Solar System, Isaac Newton suggested that the stars were equally distributed in every direction, an idea prompted by the theologian Richard Bentley . The Italian astronomer Geminiano Montanari recorded observing variations in luminosity of the star Algol in 1667. Edmond Halley published the first measurements of the proper motion of a pair of nearby "fixed" stars, demonstrating that they had changed positions since
6765-439: The Sun enters the helium burning phase, it will expand to a maximum radius of roughly 1 astronomical unit (150 million kilometres), 250 times its present size, and lose 30% of its current mass. As the hydrogen-burning shell produces more helium, the core increases in mass and temperature. In a red giant of up to 2.25 M ☉ , the mass of the helium core becomes degenerate prior to helium fusion . Finally, when
6888-449: The Sun, and may have other planets , possibly even Earth-like, in orbit around them, an idea that had been suggested earlier by the ancient Greek philosophers , Democritus and Epicurus , and by medieval Islamic cosmologists such as Fakhr al-Din al-Razi . By the following century, the idea of the stars being the same as the Sun was reaching a consensus among astronomers. To explain why these stars exerted no net gravitational pull on
7011-615: The actual explosion. The star is located in a spiral galaxy named NGC 7610 , 160 million light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus. The supernova SN 2016gkg was detected by amateur astronomer Victor Buso from Rosario , Argentina, on 20 September 2016. It was the first time that the initial "shock breakout" from an optical supernova had been observed. The progenitor star has been identified in Hubble Space Telescope images from before its collapse. Astronomer Alex Filippenko noted: "Observations of stars in
7134-502: The band of the ecliptic and these became the basis of astrology . Many of the more prominent individual stars were given names, particularly with Arabic or Latin designations. As well as certain constellations and the Sun itself, individual stars have their own myths . To the Ancient Greeks , some "stars", known as planets (Greek πλανήτης (planētēs), meaning "wanderer"), represented various important deities, from which
7257-688: The basis of their spectra, with type Ia showing a strong ionised silicon absorption line. Type I supernovae without this strong line are classified as type Ib and Ic, with type Ib showing strong neutral helium lines and type Ic lacking them. Historically, the light curves of type I supernovae were seen as all broadly similar, too much so to make useful distinctions. While variations in light curves have been studied, classification continues to be made on spectral grounds rather than light-curve shape. A small number of type Ia supernovae exhibit unusual features, such as non-standard luminosity or broadened light curves, and these are typically categorised by referring to
7380-616: The brightest stars have proper names . Astronomers have assembled star catalogues that identify the known stars and provide standardized stellar designations . The observable universe contains an estimated 10 to 10 stars. Only about 4,000 of these stars are visible to the naked eye—all within the Milky Way galaxy . A star's life begins with the gravitational collapse of a gaseous nebula of material largely comprising hydrogen , helium, and trace heavier elements. Its total mass mainly determines its evolution and eventual fate. A star shines for most of its active life due to
7503-543: The capacity to become a supernova, the ability being restricted to those having high mass and those in rare kinds of binary star systems with at least one white dwarf . The earliest record of a possible supernova, known as HB9, was likely viewed by an unknown prehistoric people of the Indian subcontinent and recorded on a rock carving in the Burzahama region of Kashmir , dated to 4500 ± 1000 BC . Later, SN 185
SECTION 60
#17327912525397626-502: The chemical composition of the stellar atmosphere to be determined. With the exception of rare events such as supernovae and supernova impostors , individual stars have primarily been observed in the Local Group , and especially in the visible part of the Milky Way (as demonstrated by the detailed star catalogues available for the Milky Way galaxy) and its satellites. Individual stars such as Cepheid variables have been observed in
7749-408: The cloud collapses, individual conglomerations of dense dust and gas form " Bok globules ". As a globule collapses and the density increases, the gravitational energy converts into heat and the temperature rises. When the protostellar cloud has approximately reached the stable condition of hydrostatic equilibrium , a protostar forms at the core. These pre-main-sequence stars are often surrounded by
7872-612: The cloud into multiple stars distributes some of that angular momentum. The primordial binaries transfer some angular momentum by gravitational interactions during close encounters with other stars in young stellar clusters. These interactions tend to split apart more widely separated (soft) binaries while causing hard binaries to become more tightly bound. This produces the separation of binaries into their two observed populations distributions. Stars spend about 90% of their lifetimes fusing hydrogen into helium in high-temperature-and-pressure reactions in their cores. Such stars are said to be on
7995-402: The collapsing white dwarf will typically form a neutron star . In this case, only a fraction of the star's mass will be ejected during the collapse. Within a few seconds of the collapse process, a substantial fraction of the matter in the white dwarf undergoes nuclear fusion, releasing enough energy (1– 2 × 10 J ) to unbind the star in a supernova. An outwardly expanding shock wave
8118-454: The core against its own gravity; passing this threshold is the cause of all types of supernova except type Ia. The collapse may cause violent expulsion of the outer layers of the star resulting in a supernova. However, if the release of gravitational potential energy is insufficient, the star may instead collapse into a black hole or neutron star with little radiated energy. Core collapse can be caused by several different mechanisms: exceeding
8241-400: The core. The blown-off outer layers of dying stars include heavy elements, which may be recycled during the formation of new stars. These heavy elements allow the formation of rocky planets. The outflow from supernovae and the stellar wind of large stars play an important part in shaping the interstellar medium. Binary stars ' evolution may significantly differ from that of single stars of
8364-417: The direction of the Milky Way core . His son John Herschel repeated this study in the southern hemisphere and found a corresponding increase in the same direction. In addition to his other accomplishments, William Herschel is noted for his discovery that some stars do not merely lie along the same line of sight, but are physical companions that form binary star systems. The science of stellar spectroscopy
8487-400: The distance to their host galaxies. A second model for the formation of type Ia supernovae involves the merger of two white dwarf stars, with the combined mass momentarily exceeding the Chandrasekhar limit. This is sometimes referred to as the double-degenerate model, as both stars are degenerate white dwarfs. Due to the possible combinations of mass and chemical composition of the pair there
8610-401: The earliest example showing similar features. For example, the sub-luminous SN 2008ha is often referred to as SN 2002cx -like or class Ia-2002cx. A small proportion of type Ic supernovae show highly broadened and blended emission lines which are taken to indicate very high expansion velocities for the ejecta. These have been classified as type Ic-BL or Ic-bl. Calcium-rich supernovae are
8733-405: The end of the star's life, fusion continues along a series of onion-layer shells within a massive star. Each shell fuses a different element, with the outermost shell fusing hydrogen; the next shell fusing helium, and so forth. The final stage occurs when a massive star begins producing iron. Since iron nuclei are more tightly bound than any heavier nuclei, any fusion beyond iron does not produce
8856-411: The event sufficiently for it to go unnoticed. The situation for Cassiopeia A is less clear; infrared light echoes have been detected showing that it was not in a region of especially high extinction. SN's identification With the development of the astronomical telescope , observation and discovery of fainter and more distant supernovae became possible. The first such observation was of SN 1885A in
8979-558: The extra mass is supported by differential rotation . There is no formal sub-classification for non-standard type Ia supernovae. It has been proposed that a group of sub-luminous supernovae that occur when helium accretes onto a white dwarf should be classified as type Iax . This type of supernova may not always completely destroy the white dwarf progenitor and could leave behind a zombie star . One specific type of supernova originates from exploding white dwarfs, like type Ia, but contains hydrogen lines in their spectra, possibly because
9102-526: The first decades of the twentieth century. In 1913, the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram was developed, propelling the astrophysical study of stars. Successful models were developed to explain the interiors of stars and stellar evolution. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin first proposed that stars were made primarily of hydrogen and helium in her 1925 PhD thesis. The spectra of stars were further understood through advances in quantum physics . This allowed
9225-451: The first moments they begin exploding provide information that cannot be directly obtained in any other way." The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has significantly advanced our understanding of supernovae by identifying around 80 new instances through its JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) program. This includes the most distant spectroscopically confirmed supernova at a redshift of 3.6, indicating its explosion occurred when
9348-439: The gradual change in properties or different frequencies of abnormal luminosity supernovae at high redshift, and for small variations in brightness identified by light curve shape or spectrum. There are several means by which a supernova of this type can form, but they share a common underlying mechanism. If a carbon - oxygen white dwarf accreted enough matter to reach the Chandrasekhar limit of about 1.44 solar masses (for
9471-564: The increasing number of discoveries has regularly led to the additional use of three-letter designations. After zz comes aaa, then aab, aac, and so on. For example, the last supernova retained in the Asiago Supernova Catalogue ; when it was terminated on 31 December 2017 bears the designation SN 2017jzp. Astronomers classify supernovae according to their light curves and the absorption lines of different chemical elements that appear in their spectra . If
9594-431: The life of the decline are classified on the basis of their light curves. The most common type shows a distinctive "plateau" in the light curve shortly after peak brightness where the visual luminosity stays relatively constant for several months before the decline resumes. These are called type II-P referring to the plateau. Less common are type II-L supernovae that lack a distinct plateau. The "L" signifies "linear" although
9717-437: The light curve is extremely consistent across normal type Ia supernovae, having a maximum absolute magnitude of about −19.3. This is because typical type Ia supernovae arise from a consistent type of progenitor star by gradual mass acquisition, and explode when they acquire a consistent typical mass, giving rise to very similar supernova conditions and behaviour. This allows them to be used as a secondary standard candle to measure
9840-487: The light curve is not actually a straight line. Supernovae that do not fit into the normal classifications are designated peculiar, or "pec". Zwicky defined additional supernovae types based on a very few examples that did not cleanly fit the parameters for type I or type II supernovae. SN 1961i in NGC 4303 was the prototype and only member of the type III supernova class, noted for its broad light curve maximum and broad hydrogen Balmer lines that were slow to develop in
9963-463: The low-distance end of the Hubble curve , which is a plot of distance versus redshift for visible galaxies. As survey programmes rapidly increase the number of detected supernovae, collated collections of observations (light decay curves, astrometry, pre-supernova observations, spectroscopy) have been assembled. The Pantheon data set, assembled in 2018, detailed 1048 supernovae. In 2021, this data set
10086-437: The main sequence and are called dwarf stars. Starting at zero-age main sequence, the proportion of helium in a star's core will steadily increase, the rate of nuclear fusion at the core will slowly increase, as will the star's temperature and luminosity. The Sun, for example, is estimated to have increased in luminosity by about 40% since it reached the main sequence 4.6 billion ( 4.6 × 10 ) years ago. Every star generates
10209-492: The main sequence to form a red giant. Matter from the giant is accreted by the white dwarf, causing the latter to increase in mass. The exact details of initiation and of the heavy elements produced in the catastrophic event remain unclear. Type Ia supernovae produce a characteristic light curve—the graph of luminosity as a function of time—after the event. This luminosity is generated by the radioactive decay of nickel -56 through cobalt -56 to iron -56. The peak luminosity of
10332-677: The main sequence. The time a star spends on the main sequence depends primarily on the amount of fuel it has and the rate at which it fuses it. The Sun is expected to live 10 billion ( 10 ) years. Massive stars consume their fuel very rapidly and are short-lived. Low mass stars consume their fuel very slowly. Stars less massive than 0.25 M ☉ , called red dwarfs , are able to fuse nearly all of their mass while stars of about 1 M ☉ can only fuse about 10% of their mass. The combination of their slow fuel-consumption and relatively large usable fuel supply allows low mass stars to last about one trillion ( 10 × 10 ) years;
10455-412: The main sequence. Besides mass, the elements heavier than helium can play a significant role in the evolution of stars. Astronomers label all elements heavier than helium "metals", and call the chemical concentration of these elements in a star, its metallicity . A star's metallicity can influence the time the star takes to burn its fuel, and controls the formation of its magnetic fields, which affects
10578-469: The most distant supernovae observed in 2003 appeared dimmer than expected. This supports the view that the expansion of the universe is accelerating . Techniques were developed for reconstructing supernovae events that have no written records of being observed. The date of the Cassiopeia A supernova event was determined from light echoes off nebulae , while the age of supernova remnant RX J0852.0-4622
10701-456: The most extreme of 0.08 M ☉ will last for about 12 trillion years. Red dwarfs become hotter and more luminous as they accumulate helium. When they eventually run out of hydrogen, they contract into a white dwarf and decline in temperature. Since the lifespan of such stars is greater than the current age of the universe (13.8 billion years), no stars under about 0.85 M ☉ are expected to have moved off
10824-445: The motions of the planets and the inferred position of the Sun. The motion of the Sun against the background stars (and the horizon) was used to create calendars , which could be used to regulate agricultural practices. The Gregorian calendar , currently used nearly everywhere in the world, is a solar calendar based on the angle of the Earth's rotational axis relative to its local star, the Sun. The oldest accurately dated star chart
10947-564: The naked eye, had a notable influence on the development of astronomy in Europe because they were used to argue against the Aristotelian idea that the universe beyond the Moon and planets was static and unchanging. Johannes Kepler began observing SN 1604 at its peak on 17 October 1604, and continued to make estimates of its brightness until it faded from naked eye view a year later. It was
11070-484: The names of the planets Mercury , Venus , Mars , Jupiter and Saturn were taken. ( Uranus and Neptune were Greek and Roman gods , but neither planet was known in Antiquity because of their low brightness. Their names were assigned by later astronomers.) Circa 1600, the names of the constellations were used to name the stars in the corresponding regions of the sky. The German astronomer Johann Bayer created
11193-403: The nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium within their cores. However, stars of different masses have markedly different properties at various stages of their development. The ultimate fate of more massive stars differs from that of less massive stars, as do their luminosities and the impact they have on their environment. Accordingly, astronomers often group stars by their mass: The formation of
11316-417: The outer convective envelope collapses and the star then moves to the horizontal branch. After a star has fused the helium of its core, it begins fusing helium along a shell surrounding the hot carbon core. The star then follows an evolutionary path called the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) that parallels the other described red-giant phase, but with a higher luminosity. The more massive AGB stars may undergo
11439-404: The outer shell of gas that it will push those layers away, forming a planetary nebula. If what remains after the outer atmosphere has been shed is less than roughly 1.4 M ☉ , it shrinks to a relatively tiny object about the size of Earth, known as a white dwarf . White dwarfs lack the mass for further gravitational compression to take place. The electron-degenerate matter inside
11562-598: The positions of the stars. They built the first large observatory research institutes, mainly to produce Zij star catalogues. Among these, the Book of Fixed Stars (964) was written by the Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi , who observed a number of stars, star clusters (including the Omicron Velorum and Brocchi's Clusters ) and galaxies (including the Andromeda Galaxy ). According to A. Zahoor, in
11685-403: The problem of deriving an orbit of binary stars from telescope observations was made by Felix Savary in 1827. The twentieth century saw increasingly rapid advances in the scientific study of stars. The photograph became a valuable astronomical tool. Karl Schwarzschild discovered that the color of a star and, hence, its temperature, could be determined by comparing the visual magnitude against
11808-497: The proper motion of the star Sirius and inferred a hidden companion. Edward Pickering discovered the first spectroscopic binary in 1899 when he observed the periodic splitting of the spectral lines of the star Mizar in a 104-day period. Detailed observations of many binary star systems were collected by astronomers such as Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve and S. W. Burnham , allowing the masses of stars to be determined from computation of orbital elements . The first solution to
11931-461: The same mass. For example, when any star expands to become a red giant, it may overflow its Roche lobe , the surrounding region where material is gravitationally bound to it; if stars in a binary system are close enough, some of that material may overflow to the other star, yielding phenomena including contact binaries , common-envelope binaries, cataclysmic variables , blue stragglers , and type Ia supernovae . Mass transfer leads to cases such as
12054-455: The same temperature. Less massive T Tauri stars follow this track to the main sequence, while more massive stars turn onto the Henyey track . Most stars are observed to be members of binary star systems, and the properties of those binaries are the result of the conditions in which they formed. A gas cloud must lose its angular momentum in order to collapse and form a star. The fragmentation of
12177-491: The second supernova to be observed in a generation, after Tycho Brahe observed SN 1572 in Cassiopeia . There is some evidence that the youngest known supernova in our galaxy, G1.9+0.3 , occurred in the late 19th century, considerably more recently than Cassiopeia A from around 1680. Neither was noted at the time. In the case of G1.9+0.3, high extinction from dust along the plane of the galactic disk could have dimmed
12300-452: The spectrum. SN 1961f in NGC 3003 was the prototype and only member of the type IV class, with a light curve similar to a type II-P supernova, with hydrogen absorption lines but weak hydrogen emission lines . The type V class was coined for SN 1961V in NGC 1058 , an unusual faint supernova or supernova impostor with a slow rise to brightness, a maximum lasting many months, and an unusual emission spectrum. The similarity of SN 1961V to
12423-514: The star prior to the supernova event, given in multiples of the Sun's mass, although the mass at the time of the supernova may be much lower. Type IIn supernovae are not listed in the table. They can be produced by various types of core collapse in different progenitor stars, possibly even by type Ia white dwarf ignitions, although it seems that most will be from iron core collapse in luminous supergiants or hypergiants (including LBVs). The narrow spectral lines for which they are named occur because
12546-506: The star's outer layers, leaving a remnant such as the Crab Nebula. The core is compressed into a neutron star , which sometimes manifests itself as a pulsar or X-ray burster . In the case of the largest stars, the remnant is a black hole greater than 4 M ☉ . In a neutron star the matter is in a state known as neutron-degenerate matter , with a more exotic form of degenerate matter, QCD matter , possibly present in
12669-400: The strength of its stellar wind. Older, population II stars have substantially less metallicity than the younger, population I stars due to the composition of the molecular clouds from which they formed. Over time, such clouds become increasingly enriched in heavier elements as older stars die and shed portions of their atmospheres . As stars of at least 0.4 M ☉ exhaust
12792-405: The supernova is expanding into a small dense cloud of circumstellar material. It appears that a significant proportion of supposed type IIn supernovae are supernova impostors, massive eruptions of LBV-like stars similar to the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae . In these events, material previously ejected from the star creates the narrow absorption lines and causes a shock wave through interaction with
12915-485: The supply of hydrogen at their core, they start to fuse hydrogen in a shell surrounding the helium core. The outer layers of the star expand and cool greatly as they transition into a red giant . In some cases, they will fuse heavier elements at the core or in shells around the core. As the stars expand, they throw part of their mass, enriched with those heavier elements, into the interstellar environment, to be recycled later as new stars. In about 5 billion years, when
13038-468: The surface due to strong convection and intense mass loss, or from stripping of the outer layers. When helium is exhausted at the core of a massive star, the core contracts and the temperature and pressure rises enough to fuse carbon (see Carbon-burning process ). This process continues, with the successive stages being fueled by neon (see neon-burning process ), oxygen (see oxygen-burning process ), and silicon (see silicon-burning process ). Near
13161-422: The surrounding interstellar medium , sweeping up an expanding shell of gas and dust observed as a supernova remnant. Supernovae are a major source of elements in the interstellar medium from oxygen to rubidium . The expanding shock waves of supernovae can trigger the formation of new stars . Supernovae are a major source of cosmic rays . They might also produce gravitational waves . The word supernova has
13284-409: The table above, are taxonomic : the type number is based on the light observed from the supernova, not necessarily its cause. For example, type Ia supernovae are produced by runaway fusion ignited on degenerate white dwarf progenitors, while the spectrally similar type Ib/c are produced from massive stripped progenitor stars by core collapse. A white dwarf star may accumulate sufficient material from
13407-458: The temperature increases sufficiently, core helium fusion begins explosively in what is called a helium flash , and the star rapidly shrinks in radius, increases its surface temperature, and moves to the horizontal branch of the HR diagram. For more massive stars, helium core fusion starts before the core becomes degenerate, and the star spends some time in the red clump , slowly burning helium, before
13530-400: The time of the ancient Greek astronomers Ptolemy and Hipparchus. William Herschel was the first astronomer to attempt to determine the distribution of stars in the sky. During the 1780s, he established a series of gauges in 600 directions and counted the stars observed along each line of sight. From this, he deduced that the number of stars steadily increased toward one side of the sky, in
13653-820: The universe was merely 1.8 billion years old. These findings offer crucial insights into the early universe's stellar evolution and the frequency of supernovae during its formative years. Because supernovae are relatively rare events within a galaxy, occurring about three times a century in the Milky Way, obtaining a good sample of supernovae to study requires regular monitoring of many galaxies. Today, amateur and professional astronomers are finding several hundred every year, some when near maximum brightness, others on old astronomical photographs or plates. Supernovae in other galaxies cannot be predicted with any meaningful accuracy. Normally, when they are discovered, they are already in progress. To use supernovae as standard candles for measuring distance, observation of their peak luminosity
13776-484: The white dwarf is surrounded by an envelope of hydrogen-rich circumstellar material . These supernovae have been dubbed type Ia/IIn , type Ian , type IIa and type IIan . The quadruple star HD 74438 , belonging to the open cluster IC 2391 the Vela constellation , has been predicted to become a non-standard type Ia supernova. Very massive stars can undergo core collapse when nuclear fusion becomes unable to sustain
13899-460: The year they occurred: SN 185, SN 1006, SN 1054, SN 1572 (called Tycho's Nova ) and SN 1604 ( Kepler's Star ). Since 1885 the additional letter notation has been used, even if there was only one supernova discovered that year (for example, SN 1885A, SN 1907A, etc.); this last happened with SN 1947A. SN , for SuperNova, is a standard prefix. Until 1987, two-letter designations were rarely needed; since 1988, they have been needed every year. Since 2016,
14022-435: Was developed by Annie J. Cannon during the early 1900s. The first direct measurement of the distance to a star ( 61 Cygni at 11.4 light-years ) was made in 1838 by Friedrich Bessel using the parallax technique. Parallax measurements demonstrated the vast separation of the stars in the heavens. Observation of double stars gained increasing importance during the 19th century. In 1834, Friedrich Bessel observed changes in
14145-561: Was documented by Chinese astronomers in 185 AD. The brightest recorded supernova was SN 1006 , which was observed in AD 1006 in the constellation of Lupus . This event was described by observers in China, Japan, Iraq, Egypt and Europe. The widely observed supernova SN 1054 produced the Crab Nebula . Supernovae SN 1572 and SN 1604 , the latest Milky Way supernovae to be observed with
14268-464: Was estimated from temperature measurements and the gamma ray emissions from the radioactive decay of titanium-44 . The most luminous supernova ever recorded is ASASSN-15lh , at a distance of 3.82 gigalight-years . It was first detected in June 2015 and peaked at 570 billion L ☉ , which is twice the bolometric luminosity of any other known supernova. The nature of this supernova
14391-408: Was expanded to 1701 light curves for 1550 supernovae taken from 18 different surveys, a 50% increase in under 3 years. Supernova discoveries are reported to the International Astronomical Union 's Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams , which sends out a circular with the name it assigns to that supernova. The name is formed from the prefix SN , followed by the year of discovery, suffixed with
14514-419: Was pioneered by Joseph von Fraunhofer and Angelo Secchi . By comparing the spectra of stars such as Sirius to the Sun, they found differences in the strength and number of their absorption lines —the dark lines in stellar spectra caused by the atmosphere's absorption of specific frequencies. In 1865, Secchi began classifying stars into spectral types . The modern version of the stellar classification scheme
14637-541: Was the SN 1006 supernova, which was observed in 1006 and written about by the Egyptian astronomer Ali ibn Ridwan and several Chinese astronomers. The SN 1054 supernova, which gave birth to the Crab Nebula , was also observed by Chinese and Islamic astronomers. Medieval Islamic astronomers gave Arabic names to many stars that are still used today and they invented numerous astronomical instruments that could compute
14760-568: Was the predecessor of the Boss General Catalogue and was written by Lewis Boss , Benjamin Boss's father in 1910. It was a list of the thought to be proper motion of stars. As per the name, Lewis Boss 's catalogue intended to have a successor, the role of which was taken by the Boss General Catalogue . Unlike the Preliminary General Catalogue of 6,188 Stars for the Epoch 1900 which only noted
14883-614: Was the result of ancient Egyptian astronomy in 1534 BC. The earliest known star catalogues were compiled by the ancient Babylonian astronomers of Mesopotamia in the late 2nd millennium BC, during the Kassite Period ( c. 1531 BC – c. 1155 BC ). The first star catalogue in Greek astronomy was created by Aristillus in approximately 300 BC, with the help of Timocharis . The star catalog of Hipparchus (2nd century BC) included 1,020 stars, and
15006-480: Was used to assemble Ptolemy 's star catalogue. Hipparchus is known for the discovery of the first recorded nova (new star). Many of the constellations and star names in use today derive from Greek astronomy. Despite the apparent immutability of the heavens, Chinese astronomers were aware that new stars could appear. In 185 AD, they were the first to observe and write about a supernova , now known as SN 185 . The brightest stellar event in recorded history
15129-503: Was used, as "super-Novae", in a journal paper published by Knut Lundmark in 1933, and in a 1934 paper by Baade and Zwicky. By 1938, the hyphen was no longer used and the modern name was in use. American astronomers Rudolph Minkowski and Fritz Zwicky developed the modern supernova classification scheme beginning in 1941. During the 1960s, astronomers found that the maximum intensities of supernovae could be used as standard candles , hence indicators of astronomical distances. Some of
#538461