Another star’s just gone up.
Blown itself into a thousand million smithereens.
I say just, but it happened years ago. Hundreds, possibly thousands of years ago, but because it’s so far away the light from the explosion is only now reaching us.
The supernova straddles two constellations from our point of view, Tucana and Indus, and we can’t see it with our own eyes, even in its exploded state – that shows you how far away it is.
Mind you, I have to position a piece of paper at a certain angle to be able to see what’s written on that, and that’s in my hands, so I’d have no chance. Eagle-eyed observers may see a faint twinkle if they looked long enough in that general direction, but it’s better to use the more powerful telescopic equipment – saves eye strain.
According to Space.com, if the star were a mere 8.6 light years away from us, like Sirius for example (which just happens to be the brightest star in our sky), it would be shining as bright as our Sun now.
Scientists think that the supernova could be being powered by a magnetar, a kind of star that is made up entirely of neutrons, which can be created when a star explodes. The magnetic forces of this swirling mass of neutrons creates enough magnetic energy that will heat up the gases created when the star exploded causing them to glow even brighter.
So, in effect, the star creates its own energy source to make it glow brighter when it explodes. Sounds like a paradox to me, but I’m not a scientist. And I like paradoxes.
That said, Betelgeuse, the star in the Orion constellation, the star that may very soon itself go supernova, is hard at work creating heavier and heavier elements in its core, elements that will one day be used to create new stars and perhaps a magnetar of its own.
I’ve written posts before about us having two ‘suns’ when Betelgeuse explodes, causing night to become as bright as day, and this may explain how that would be possible.
It’s amazing, though, that at the end of a star’s life, new stars are created from its very demise.
The Universe. As baffling as it is to mere mortals such as I, it’s so full of wonder and awe that you can’t help to be mesmerised by the magic of it all. Well, I can’t, but I’m easily mesmerised…
The Mansionic Perspective 
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