Simulated 'engine of explosion' observed in supernova remnant
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - 08:30
in Astronomy & Space
Back in 2003, researchers using the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility's (OLCF's) first supercomputer, Phoenix, started out with a bang. Astrophysicists studying core-collapse supernovae—dying massive stars that violently explode after running out of fuel—asked themselves what mechanism triggers explosion and a fusion chain reaction that releases all the elements found in the universe, including those that make up the matter around us?