4 ms·
To be clear, "impending" in this case means "in decades, not centuries" and "indications" come down to some pretty fascinating modeling of periodicity in its br
by EA-3167 3y ago
To be clear, "impending" in this case means "in decades, not centuries" and "indications" come down to some pretty fascinating modeling of periodicity in its brightness. The theory is that this "pulsation" is the result of intermittent contraction of the core due to running out of a given element to fuse, until higher pressures allow for the fusion of new elements. The belief here is that the star is now nearing the end of its Carbon fusing period, and since it isn't massive enough to fuse Si, its end must be approaching.
This could be true, but it's using some fairly indirect methods to reach that conclusion, so I'd personally wait a few years for more people to get a look at the math and draw firmer conclusions.
Having said all of that, I hope it's true, and I hope that I'm alive to see it.
- itronitron 3y ago"How a Supernova Explodes" by Hans Bethe and Gerald Brown is one of the most amazing things I've ever read. https://astro.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2830/2020/10/Bethe_Brown_How-a-Supernova-Explodes.pdf https://astro.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2830/2020/1...
- EA-3167 3y agoThat was a beautiful read, thanks very much.
- OldGuyInTheClub 3y agoAgreed! Thanks, very much for that link! Youtuber "But Why?" has a great video with animations on core-collapse supernovae: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt-SBT7nNfU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt-SBT7nNfU
- zeristor 3y agoWow that was an amazing video, not so much nerd snipped, but nerd nuked.
- OldGuyInTheClub 3y agoHadn't heard of "nerd sniping" until now. Learn something every day on HN!
- danw1979 3y agoI’m really enjoying it ! How well do you think it reflects our current understanding of supernovae ?