X-ray illumination of supernova ejecta
Friday, June 24, 2011 - 09:01
in Astronomy & Space
(PhysOrg.com) -- Supernovae are the explosive deaths of massive stars, cataclysms that disburse into space the chemical elements produced by nuclear reactions inside the progenitor stars. Understanding chemical enrichment is reason enough to make supernovae objects of intense study. Astronomers have another reason too: supernovae are probes of the early universe because they are so bright they can be seen at very large distances.