Supernova

The explosion of a Star or some other stellar objects.

Description (Specifications)

Supernova are classified by type, based originally upon the presence or absence of hydrogen absorption lines in their respective spectra. However, it is perhaps more conceptually convenient to separate supernovae into two types based on their cause.

• Thermal Runaway Supernova: If a degenerate dwarf accretes sufficient material onto its surface from a companion star to push its mass over the 1.44 M_Sol Chandrasekhar limit, the star will either collapse directly into a neutron star, or (more likely) will detonate as a Type Ia Supernova as temperature and pressure reach sufficient levels to initiate carbon-oxygen burning of the naked core. Within a few seconds, a substantial fraction of the matter in the degenerate dwarf undergoes thermonuclear fusion, releasing enough energy to unbind the star in a supernova explosion, destroying the entire core-remnant. Such supernovae are generally classed as Type Ia supernovae.

• Core Collapse Supernova: For supergiant stars whose stellar cores are over 1.44 M_Sol, electron degeneracy pressure is insufficient to support the mass of the core under its own gravity once core thermonuclear fusion begins to shut down at the end of the life of the supergiant star. The energies are so high that the inverse reaction of radioactive beta-decay is favored, wherein a proton and electron (beta particle) transform into a neutron while emitting a neutrino. As a result, a neutron star composed almost entirely of neutrons is formed at the stellar core of the supergiant, supported against further collapse by the repulsive strong nuclear force as well as neutron quantum degeneracy pressure due to the Pauli exclusion principle, and is accompanied by the entire loss of outward thermonuclear explosive pressure. As the outer layers of the supergiant collapse down on top of this non-compressible neutron core, a rebounding shock-wave is generated traveling up thru the collapsing outer layers of the supergiant, accompanied by rapid thermonuclear burning of heavy elements within the collapsing envelope, resulting in the complete obliteration of the outer layers of the star. Such supernovae are generally classed as Type II supernovae, though they also include Type Ib & Type Ic supernovae.

While the brightest Luminous Supernovae can be over several trillion times as luminous as Sol - most Supernovae are much less bright than this, but they are still brighter than the combined output of all the stars in some Galaxies!

Supernovae can result in Neutron Stars or Black Holes or can end up with nothing left except an expanding cloud of radioactive plasma that slowly cools. The flash from a Supernova will be adequate to destroy all, or nearly all, life on all Worlds in the same Sector, and will significantly disrupt life in adjacent sectors. The plasma cloud expands at about 1 parsec per decade and is equally deadly on nearer Worlds that it passes.

Sophonts are advised that any Supernova should be avoided for the first few millennia after the initial explosion.

History & Background (Dossier)

The term "Nova" was first used by the Solomani on pre-spaceflight Terra to describe the sudden but temporary brightening of a star, or the temporary appearance of a "new" star in the night skies ("nova" being a word for "new" in the ancient Solomani language known as Latin). It was eventually discovered that novae occur when material from a companion star accretes onto the surface of a degenerate dwarf star (i.e. a "white dwarf") in sufficient quantity to initiate a runaway cataclysmic thermonuclear explosion on the degenerate dwarf surface, causing a sudden intense brightening of the star that can take weeks to completely fade away. It was later theorized and subsequently demonstrated that certain classes of novae could arise from the complete or near complete destruction of an entire star thru variuos mechanisms. Such novae were subsequently dubbed "Supernovae".

Inhabited worlds have not had any Supernova explosions in recorded history. This is not to say they are not going to happen: Heavier stars (those more than 8 times the mass of the sun) tend to end their lives this way - although some transition quietly directly to Black Holes.

Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)

• REAV-1118 (star)
• FARF-BH2526 (star)
• TROJ 627-301 (system)
• Omadarondu (world)

World Listing: 1116

The following stars and systems are associated with this astrographic feature:

No world articles for Supernova

References & Contributors (Sources)

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Supernova. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of Wikipedia is available under the Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Author: BackworldTraveller