An animation sequence of the 17th century supernova in the constellation of Cassiopeia. Surrounding material plus continued emission of EM radiation both play a role in the remnant’s continued illumination. A supernova is the typical fate for a star greater than about 10 solar masses, although there are some exceptions. (NASA, ESA, AND THE HUBBLE HERITAGE STSCI/AURA)-ESA/HUBBLE COLLABORATION. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: ROBERT A. FESEN (DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, USA) AND JAMES LONG (ESA/HUBBLE))

These Are The 6 Different Ways To Make A Supernova

Your fate is only rarely determined at birth. Ultimately, every star has a chance to get there.

Three times in the past 1,000 years, a portion of humanity has looked up at our night sky, only to be surprised by the sudden appearance of a new, dazzling, brilliant star. The previously-unseen point of light materializes in the sky, appears to brighten for a time, and then slowly fades over the course of months or even years. Eventually, it fades away entirely.

Originally called a stella nova (for “new star”) by Tycho Brahe in 1572, these events are now recognized as supernovae, where a massive star or stellar corpse undergoes a runaway fusion reaction, brightening tremendously and illuminating the stellar debris surrounding it. For many years, scientists broadly categorized them in two different ways: either arising from stellar remnants or from the core collapse of a massive star. We’ve learned so much more about the life-and-death of stars, though. We now know there are six different ways to make a supernova.

The (modern) Morgan–Keenan spectral classification system, with the temperature range of each star class shown above it, in kelvin. The overwhelming majority of stars today are M-class stars, with only 1 known O- or B-class star within 25 parsecs. Our Sun is a G-class star. However, in the early Universe, almost all of the stars were O or B-class stars, with an average mass 25 times greater than average stars today. When new stars form in massive regions, O-and-B stars can be produced in great abundance. (WIKIMEDIA COMMONS USER LUCASVB, ADDITIONS BY E. SIEGEL)